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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031592">The Flight of a Crow</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tartirta264/pseuds/Tartirta264'>Tartirta264</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Akechi Goro Redemption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Female Akechi Goro, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Let Sakamoto Ryuji Say Fuck, Phantom Thieves of Hearts as Family</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:14:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>64,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031592</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tartirta264/pseuds/Tartirta264</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Games have sort of an unpredictable nature. Multiple experiences in them reassure the existence of diverse twists and turns that leave possibility for any unimaginable outcome.</p><p>The following story is a Game bewteen two players; a rebellious trickster who opposes desire and an angel of chaos who acts within desire. Two beings, forsaken by society, destined to face one another to decide if the masses will or will not avoid the fated ruin.</p><p>However, this game had an interesting change; the angel who was sunken in a path of revenge has finally abandoned those corrupted ideals, deciding to join the trickster in his journey of rehabilitation. </p><p>Will the trickster and the angel complete their goal and save the masses from ruin? Or will they succumb once more to the claws of a rotten society? The new game has started.</p><p>(Currently on hiatus to focus on original proyects, promise I'll finish it don't murder me </p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akechi Goro &amp; Morgana, Akechi Goro &amp; Sakura Futaba, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Mysterious Dark Knight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/12891396">Wings of Rebellion</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/aiyumibr/pseuds/Aiyumi">Aiyumi (aiyumibr)</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>...Yo! Hello everyone ^^ As I promised, here is the first chapter of the sequel to "Justice of a Fool and Fool of Justice"! I really intended on posting it earlier, but I got my hands on a juicy P5 Royal Ultimate Edition and I've been playing it hardcorely lmao. Still, I promise to keep some order of posting, avoiding to take more than a month of so to publish now that I'm on full vacation uwu</p><p>I'll leave a picture of how Crow will look like through the course of the story! You'll notice that there is a back part of her helmet that wasn't drawn, but just pretend it's there xD I'm not the artist of this pic btw, but I don't really know the artist name which is a real shame :c Anyways, I've already marked this, but this story is a modification of Aiyumi's original story. Make sure to check their work, it's awesome! With all that said, hope you enjoy! ^^</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>                                                                          ----------------</p><p>"It's honestly incredible... You've managed to overcome your catastrophic fate. The darkness within your heart has been wiped away, setting it free from any possible cruel intent." A feminine echoes through the air, almost caressing Akechi's ears.</p><p>"Huh...?" Akechi's eyes suddenly open. Her senses try to quickly adapt to the unknown surrounding that Akechi finds herself in. First comes the sight; there's nothing around her, besides an infinite darkness that swallows the horizon, aside of her own self that is. However, it is not the same scaring darkness she was used to, it was pretty calm and even managed to make Akechi stop being so wary of any possible danger. </p><p>Second comes the smell... For some reason, the scent within the air triggered in Akechi a huge variety of strange images that she didn't quite recognize. One of these was a picture of a strange elevator with an immense clock, which seemed to go up forever, another was of a strange limousine that seemed to drive through a lonely road that found no end. The last was an image of a prison with a single desk placed in the center; this last image was the one Akechi felt the most familiarized with, which managed to send a shiver down her spine. However, all this pictures seemed to have something in common. They all were covered in...</p><p><em>Blue Velvet. </em>As if her thought of those two words had managed to trigger a particular situation, something appeared within Akechi's rank of sight. Flying delicately and slowly through the air was a beautiful blue butterfly, whose body seemed to irradiate a particular gentle glow that made Akechi follow it with her gaze and not take her eyes away from it. Could the sudden voice she heard come from this little butterfly? Akechi couldn't really answer that question, but her curiosity managed to make her not lose sight of it. Until...</p><p>"You, young woman, were chosen to participate in a twisted game. A malevolent entity forced you into a power with no precedents, manipulating and drawing you into a profound darkness that seemed to be inescapable by any means. Your fate was to face a second trickster, another player of this cruel and unjust game, whose path would have to eventually cross with yours." The voice that was coming out of the butterfly echoes softly through the darkness. "But your will proved to grow strong enough to overcome this machiavellian entity's chains, allowing your heart to escape from this bottomless pit." Akechi's heart fluttered, feeling a strange warmth within her heart as she heard the voice's speech. "You may have gone too far through this path of destruction you were forced to craft and your future may now be lost, but if my voice is reaching you, then there's still a chance for you to follow a better path. The new resolve you have acquired... You must hold onto it with no hesitation, since it will be your way to forge bonds with others who will for sure accompany you through this new journey." Akechi felt suddenly tired and her eyes started to close slowly, while the butterfly kept her flight around her. "Oh, first Trickster. Do not allow this entity to win and keep playing with other people's futures like it did with yours. Let the bonds you create from now on be the wings of rebellion that allow you to course the infinity sky of freedom..." And the last thing Akechi heard before fully closing her eyes was the soft melody of a piano, playing through the infinite darkness...</p><p>                                  -------------------</p><p>The detective's eyes opened up. A loud gasp escaped her mouth, while a hand was lying on her chest, holding tightly onto her peacoat. Akechi took quick glances around to notice there was no darkness, just people standing up checking on their phones or reading. It was the subway. Of course, now she remembered what she was doing. She was heading to the TV station to record a last minute interview she had been contacted for. Akechi found herself calming down a little now that she was aware of what surrounded her. Breath in, breath out; she repeated this action three times to relax as much as she could after that sudden dream she had. Once her mind was finally cooled down, Akechi started to think about the latest events that had occurred during the past days.</p><p>The detective had an ecounter with Ren Amamiya, a young raven-haired boy she got to meet once at a TV studio during a special interview, back when the Phantom Thieves case was just starting. Things turned out to be even more funny when she found out Ren Amamiya lived at the café's attic she had the habit of visiting. But things turned out to be directly hilarious when both teenagers were forced to share a hotel room together and have a little heart-to-heart, in which Akechi blurted out many things about her past and her need for being accepted. With these peculiar succession of events, Ren and Akechi grew to become friends by the moment they'd to return home and with the birth of this bond, Akechi started to reconsider all the choices she'd made.</p><p>During the stay with the raven boy, many things in Akechi changed. Due to the huge kindness and sweetness Ren gave her, his worrying about her well-being and his acceptance towards her trueself, the detective girl couldn't help but doubt her path of vengeance. For a long time, revenge was all that kept her living on, believing that <em>the end justified the means </em>and that everything she did under Shido's command will be worth it once she killed him. But Ren... He gave her everything she always wanted; someone who genuinely cared for her and accepted her who she truly was. Ren had managed to pull her heart out of that overwhelming solitute she couldn't escape from for many years, and as a consequence of that, her vision was finally cleared. </p><p><em>I was stupid</em>. Too stupid, if she had to add. When Akechi went through the plan she had crafted for so long, she felt like vomiting when she noticed the holes and flaws it had. Not only that, but she realized that the excitement of finally getting back at Shido, the need of seeing him begging her for mercy, the thought of the pleasure she would feel once she massacred him. It was all 'pointless'. She didn't need any of that to get what she wanted and Ren was the living proof. This train of thought led her to recall the things she heard in the weird dream she had just a few moments ago.</p><p>The voice in her dream was right about the fact that Akechi lacked the chance of a bright future and that her actions had made her go far too deep into the dark path she forged during the past years. But with this in her mind, she thought about the Phantom Thieves and how she wanted to save them from suffering her same fate. This was her new resolve; she wanted to save these people so that they wouldn't lose their lives like Akechi had. For once, she wanted to be the hero and not the villain of the story...</p><p>Once the train stopped, Akechi walked a few minutes before reaching the studio. She was early, so she was allowed to sit and wait for her interview to begin in ten minutes. In that time period, Akechi scrolled through her phone, looking for any news of the Thieves actions, when she saw the text Ren sent her before. Akechi hadn't responded because she was too distracted, and she felt a bit bad about leaving the raven without an answer. With a happy smile on her face, the detective typed.</p><p>
  <em>I had a great time as well, can't wait to do it again. See you around Ren, and have a pleasant evening.</em>
</p><p>And sent. Good thing she decided to text him right at that moment because just a few seconds after she sent the message, she was called over to record the interview. The interview didn't go so bad, except for how the reporter rubbed against Akechi's face how her popularity had decreased massively and how the public got more and more on the side of the Thieves. Even if she was furious, the only thing she did was smile it off and keep her cool intact. And at the final moments of the interview...</p><p>"Drastic actions you say? Ah, yes! You had said some time ago that you found some points that could connect the changes of heart with the recent mental shutdown incidents. So with this you're considering that the Phantom Thieves could be behind the mental shutdowns as well, Akechi-san?"</p><p>"As much as it pains me to admit it, it's not fully clear if the Thieves are actually behind those recent incidents. However, that doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye to the fact that both changes of hearts and the mental shutdown incidents are both sudden and so far unexplainable occurrences. Whether the Phantom Thieves are indeed behind both of these occurrences and not just the changes of heart, only time with tell. Eventually, this group of righteous people will end up showing their true colors..." Akechi couldn't help but smile at the thought of how things would turn out to be so different from they were expected to be. "Nevertheless, there is one undeniable fact about this situation."</p><p>"Oh? And what is that, Akechi-san?" Asked the reporter, noticing something different coming from Akechi.</p><p>"No matter what the outcome may be, justice will prevail in the end." Determination. That's what her eyes and her smile reflected; an intense fire of determination that burned within her, with the intensity of the sun. Her true intentions weren't noticeable to the reporter, but that was just what she wanted. To keep fooling the ones she had once been siding with, so that they didn't suspect what she was actually planning to do. With these words, the new game finally started...</p><p>                                  ------------------<br/>
Tuesday, 13th of September</p><p>Okumura had been at the top of the Phansite rankings for a few days now, so Akechi thought that the boy band known as the Phantom Thieves wouldn't take too much in going to Okumura's Palace. She took that day off especially to search through the Palace in her attempt to find the Thieves. It was strange though... There were no signs of a large group of people roaming around; the number of shadows hadn't been reduced that much aside of the ones she'd taken down quickly so that the others wouldn't notice her presence and a little number of others, which scratched out the idea of the boy band being there.</p><p><em>And yet the shadows are extremely agitated right now. </em>Akechi noticed perfectly how the shadows were looking for an specific pair intruders, meaning that there were other people aside of her inside the Palace. Taking advantage of the spaceship's ceiling structures that included railings and such, she coursed through discreetly in her search for this new intruders. After a few minutes of following the shadows, she noticed the group she was following surrounded a particular pair.</p><p><br/>
<em>... Is that a cat? </em>Was the first thought that crossed Akechi's mind when she saw the pair. There was this cartoonish like cat creature, that seemed more like a commercial mascot more than a Persona User, and a young girl with a peculiar outfit that consisted of a dark purple cavalier hat with a feather plume, a long sleeved pink blouse, a black corset with golden buttons and a pair of purple gloves. </p><p><br/>
"We're surrounded! Watch out, Beauty Thief, do not let them catch you off guard! Show your might, Zorro!" Suddenly, the masked creature summoned his persona. A large sized muscled man wearing the characteristic outfit of Zorro, a fictional thief from the books of Johnston McCulley. The persona started its attack, but a shadow caught the cat mascot from behind and got him down.</p><p><br/>
"Mona-chan!" The sudden attack to the mascot managed to distract the girl who was smashed around by two shadows and brought down to the floor. The two of them were surrounded and didn't seem to have any possible way of escaping at that moment.</p><p>A big grin appeared on Akechi's face when she saw this chance the intruders. <em>Alright, time for me to intervene. </em>And so, the detective jumped down from the railings, falling directly next to the girl, who she heard being called 'Beauty Thief'. Akechi was squatting on her feet when she reached the ground and stood up slowly, glaring at the shadows who clearly recognized the person infront of them, since they were fruit Okumura's cognition and if he knew who she was, then his cognitions would know as well. "Stay down, I'll handle this." Were the words that came out of the Black Mask's mouth, whose presence managed to startle both the girl and the cat mascot.</p><p><br/>
"<strong>DO NOT BOTHER WITH THE OTHER TWO! SHE'LL BE THE PRIOR OBJECTIVE NOW! THAT GIRL REPRESENTS AN INCREDIBLE DANGER, SO DON'T HESITATE ON KILLING HER!</strong>" Screamed one of the robotic shadows as they all transformed into a group consisting of two Girimehkalas, five Belphegors and eight Decarabias. The Black Masked woman giggled in a very dark way, causing the surrounding shadows to flinch a bit.</p><p>"Aww, you're planning to kill me~? Now that is just adorable~" A hand coursed all the way through the low part of her helmet up to her mask, which disappeared and allowed Akechi to hold her gauntleted hand against her face to cover most part of it, only letting her big smile and garnet eyes to show. "SHOW THEM WHAT TRUE POWER IS, <strong><em>LOKI</em></strong>!!!" And so, the persona heeded her call, appearing right behind Akechi; a black white stripped humanoid, sitting at the tip of a gigantic swords' handle whichs blade seemed to be on fire. "DESTROY THEM!!!" With the sharp cry of his wielder, Loki made two hand moves to swing his blade in the air and point the handle to the ground, annihilating all the surrounding shadows with a massive Megidolaon. Once her and the other two were safe, Loki disappeared and the mask returned to Akechi's face. Her face went back into a serious and the cold expression as soon as the mask returned to her helmet.</p><p>As soon as she turned around to the two intruders, Akechi offered the girl known as Beauty Thief a hand, so that she would get up on her feet more easily. The girl accepted, still a bit shocked for what she just saw, but totally relieved that this mysterious woman had appeared in the right moment. Beauty Thief gave the Black Mask a short bow. "T-Thank you very much for helping us back there... I don't know what would have been of us if you hadn't showed up, so thank you."</p><p>"No problem." The Black Mask kept it as short as possible. Her tone was sharp and dark, but she was still glad that the girl didn't seem that scared of her. The one that was truly worrying was the mascot cat who, as soon as he noticed Akechi's oufit, went to stand between the Black Mask and Beauty Thief.</p><p>"Stay away from her you freak!" Squealed the cat creature while having his tiny arms in a protective position against Beauty Thief. "I know you... You are the Black Masked persona user Madarame mentioned! The one that is behind the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns!" spat the cat creature with a glare on the Black Mask. </p><p>"Yes, I am." The persona user crossed her arms on her chest while looking down at the cat creature. She wasn't going to lie and hide that she was the one to blame for those incidents, but her tone grew a bit sharper and colder at the cat creature since he did piss her off a little.</p><p>Alarmed by the situation, Mona-chan, that's how Akechi heard this thing was called, kept its ground protectively between Beauty Thief and Akechi. "Do not get any closer! Otherwise, you'll force me to take you down!"</p><p>"Mona-chan, wait a second... this person just saved us a moment ago. And what do you mean that she's causing the shutdown incidents? I thought those were naturally-" Beauty Thief wasn't able to finish that sentence before Mona-chan interrupted her with a yell.</p><p>"No! Those incidents aren't naturally caused Beauty Thief!" The cat's eyes went back directly to the Black Mask who just stared at the two of them. "She's the one causing them! I don't know how she does it... But she confirmed it herself! So stay back!" The creature seemed prepared to strike the Black Mask. She wouldn't have any problems on taking it out, since she was <strong>FAR</strong> stronger than that thing at the moment.</p><p>"Hold your horses, kitty-cat. I'm not looking for a fight; if I was just trying to kill you, I would've let the shadows do so, but that's not the case." The Black Mask didn't care when the cat creature spat <em>I'm not a cat!! </em>and just kept going. "I came here with the intention of delivering a message to the Phantom Thieves." The Black Mask looked down at Mona-chan, keeping her cold tone and sharp gaze. "Are you perhaps a member of their group?"</p><p>"Hell no." Mona-chan seemed to have tensed up at The Black Mask's question, as if she had triggered something delicate. "If you are looking for those morons then you're at the wrong place. I was once a member, but I have nothing to do with them anymore!"</p><p>"...Oh?" The Black Mask couldn't help but laugh, much to Mona-chan's annoyance. "So, you basically abandoned your team? As much as I wonder why, I know it's none of my business." Her seriousness returned in almost no time. "Still, I would like you to deliver them this message. It's actually very important."</p><p>"And what if I refuse huh?" Asked the cat while looking up at The Black Mask. Akechi really had it with this cat thing and only sharpened her eyes to it, which eventually caused Mona-chan to be a little taken aback. Suddenly, the Black Mask's gaze turned to Beauty Thief who seemed a little nervous about this whole deal.</p><p>"Well, I guess it can't be helped, can it cat?" Said the Black Mask while patting on Mona-chan's head, causing the cat creature to meow loudly in annoyance, pushing Akechi's hand away. The Black Mask focused on Beauty Thief now. "Since you're with him, I'm guessing you are not a member of the Phantom Thieves either, right?"</p><p>"Yes, I'm not with the Phantom Thieves either..." spoke the girl, visibly wary of the Black Mask. "But if you-" Just when she was about to say something, Mona-chan interrupted her loudly.</p><p>"Hey, stop right there you freak! Don't bother her!" Spoke Mona-chan, seemingly angry at The Black Mask referring directly to Beauty Thief. He was probably trying to protect her from any possible danger that The Black Mask could represent for her. "Listen to me very carefully, I'm not planning to play messenger for you at all, and I do not want to see the Phantom Thieves again! Me and Beauty Thief will go and change Okumura's heart on our own without any help, just the two of us!"</p><p>"Wait, Mona-chan, at least let her say what she has to." Protested Beauty Thief with a glimpse of concern in her voice. The Black Mask only sighed and crossed her arms on her chest once more, visibly bothered by the cat creature's stubbornness. Then again, Akechi was quite stubborn herself, so she couldn't complain that much.</p><p>"Well, you'll have to hear about it anyway, now that I know that you're both targeting Okumura as well. Even if you're not part of the Phantom Thieves, if you're looking to trigger a change of heart on him, then it's important you hear the message too." Spoke the Black Mask with a calm and sharp tone in her voice. </p><p>Beauty Thief became curious about what The Black Mask had to say to them. "Mona-chan, please let her speak. If it's related to our current mission, then we should listen to her words." The Black Mask nodded gratefully at Beauty Thief, to which Mona-chan only growled in clear anger against the dark persona user. <em>Boy what an aggressive kitty</em>.</p><p><br/>
"Okay, I'll go straight to the point. You need to stop going after Okumura." Akechi's tone, even though muffled a bit because of her metal helmet, was loud and clear. She didn't know why, but she was very sure that even if the cat creature refused to tell the Phantom Thieves about that, then Beauty Thief would do so. "It's all a trap and if you end up targeting Okumura, then not only him but also the Thieves themselves will be in incredible danger. I came here with the intention of warning them that, but since you two also want to change his heart, then it means you should know about it too."</p><p>Beauty Thief's face reflected a huge concern when she heard the Black Mask's statement; even Mona-chan seemed to be taken by surprise, but he tried to not show it. "You're joking right? I don't believe you at all! Why should we even-"</p><p>"Mona-chan... We'll tell the Thieves about this." Spoke Beauty Thief with a firm tone of voice and a that managed to make Mona-chan stay quiet. Her gaze went firmly to the Black Mask. "Do not worry, I'll make sure to find the Phantom Thieves and deliver them your message. Thank you very much for warning us."</p><p>The Black Mask nodded while unmaking her arm crossing. "Very well, I said what I have to. I'll be taking my leave now, so try to abandon this place in one piece." And with that, the Black Mask jumped onto the walls, making her way up to the ceiling structures of the room. But before she could leave, one of the voices called out for her.</p><p>"W-Wait a moment!" It was Beauty Thief, pointing a palm at The Black Mask who was now several meters above them. "If we ever find you again, how would like us to address you?"</p><p>"Address me...?" Akechi stared down at the person and cat creature she just met, with said creature speaking something like <strong><em>H-Hey! How did you do that?!</em></strong> but Akechi just ignored its words. It was clear that, thanks to the muffling of her voice, they hadn't really found out her identity. Obviously that's how she preferred for it to be, since it wasn't in her interest for them or the Phantom Thieves to know the truth beneath the Black Mask. </p><p>"Well I'm sure you already heard us, but this is Mona-chan" Spoke the girl while moving her hand and gaze towards the cat creature, before pulling her hand back and placing it on her chest with her gaze going back to the Black Mask. "And I'm Beauty Thief. If we ever find each other again, how would you like us to refer to you?"</p><p>Akechi's eyes kept her focus on the the girl who was expecting her to answer. It was true that the Phantom Thieves referred themselves with a certain variety of code names; during her exploration of Madarame's Palace, the Black Mask managed to catch a few strange words that the Thieves used to call each other. With this in mind, the dark persona user had already being considering a number of nicknames for when the trap had to be executed. The Black Mask, who was currently sitting down on the ceiling structure, crossed her right leg over her left leg while resting her right elbow on the top leg. The right side of her helmet was now resting on the Black Mask's fingers who were currently making a fist.</p><p>"Ah, I see... Well, most of the shadows and Palace's Rulers I've had the displeasure of meeting refer to me as <em><strong>The Black Mask</strong></em>, but if you wish to address me differently, then you may just call me <strong><em>Crow</em></strong>." The grin that appeared behind her mask reflected the huge amusement that she felt towards the irony of the situation. Crow was the final code name she had chosen for when she had to approach the Thieves and blackmail them after Okumura had his mental shutdown. It was really ironic, and even funny, considering the fact she was using the exact same code-name with a whole different purpose. </p><p>"Alright, we are grateful with you for saving us Crow. I hope fate grants us a chance to see you again." Beauty Thief gave Crow a bow; the girl's excessive politeness reminded Crow of her TV celebrity mask, not only that, but she was already calling her by the self-assigned code-name, which made the situation quite hilarious for her, causing Akechi to chuckle behind her mask.</p><p>"Very well, I will take my leave now. See you around." Crow stood up and just with a few steps back, Crow vanished within the shadows of the ceiling structures, much to Beauty Thief's and Mona-chan's amazement. The message had been sent, and hopefully the Phantom Thieves would take the warning seriously enough to back away from the whole situation. Crow wanted them to avoid the trap, so it was in her best interest for them to just forget that the Metaverse even existed.</p><p>                                   ------------------</p><p>The evening received Akechi with a soft breeze when she came out of the Metaverse. The sounds of the Tokyo nighttime managed to make the brunette crack a little smile of joy, as she started walking down the streets. She took the train line she was so used to get to the past months evenings, wishing to find that tiny and cozy café at Yongen Jaya and get herself a delicious cup of the coffee she had grown to love so much. After a few minutes, she finally arrived to the Backstreets of Yongen Jaya, finding herself with Leblanc's door that had its sign still on Open. With a little smile of relief at seeing that the café was open, she grabbed the knob of the door and opened it.</p><p>"Welcom- Well if it isn't the detective princess? Have a seat, young lady." The voice of the old the man known as Sojiro Sakura came as music for Akechi's ears. After going so many times to Leblanc, it had become a routine thing to hear the man's voice in the evening. The girl walked up to the counter and took a seat in front of it and when she was settled down, Sakura-san's face adopted his characteristic grin. "It has been quite a few days since your last visit, but I knew you would come back eventually. You have pretty good taste in coffee after all."</p><p>The detective allowed a laugh to escape her mouth, with a glimpse of her true personality reflecting on her face. "Oh Sakura-san, you know you have me enchanted with your magnificent coffee skills, so of course I would return eventually." Her TV façade persisted, but it seemed to be a little cracked. </p><p><br/>
"Well the ladies always love a guy who knows his coffee. Should I get you the usual?" Asked Sojiro to Akechi, receiving a nod from her. "Coming right up, miss." And with that, Sojiro started preparing Akechi's order. </p><p>"Thank you very much Sakura-san." The detective chuckled amusedly; even if she visited a similar place when she left for Kobayakawa's infiltration, she'd missed the taste of a high quality cup of coffee. <em>Oh, now that I think about that.</em> "Forgive me for asking, but where's Amamiya-san? I thought he would be around here with you." </p><p>The old man lifted his gaze to the detective, wearing a somewhat conflicted expression that instantly made concern grow inside Akechi. After a few seconds of not getting an answer, the old man started speaking. "The kid's---"</p><p>"Right here, princess." Ren's voice invaded the café, causing Akechi to turn her gaze rather quickly to the stairs that lead to the attic. When she noticed him coming down with a hand up waving at her, Akechi's lips curled into a happy smile. But that didn't last much when Akechi realized that Ren had an expression of sadness on his face, causing the detective girl to become instantly worried.</p><p>"Is everything okay Ren? You look like you're worried about something..." Spoke the detective, totally unaware of how Sojiro seemed surprised of hearing her calling Ren by his first name. Ren sat down at the stairs, without facing or even answering to Akechi's question. The concern for him grew more and more. "Ren...?"</p><p>"It's the cat. He... he ran away." Sojiro was the one to answer for Ren, making Akechi's gaze practically dart to him. It was obvious that Sojiro didn't understand all the things that he had confirmed for Akechi with those two phrases.</p><p>"What?! Are you serious...?!" All the pieces fell into place at last. Akechi had a lot of suspicions that Ren Amamiya was indeed a Phantom Thief, but she never got any way to confirm her thoughts. Now though, she was a 100% sure that it was true; Ren Amamiya was a Phantom Thief. Otherwise, how could someone justify the fact that she had run into a cat creature thing in the Metaverse and that all of the sudden, Ren's cat ran away recently? It just fit too perfectly. The cat creature had abandoned the team and joined to Beauty Thief in the quest of stealing Okumura's heart, and it was obvious for Akechi that it was the same cat that Ren had lost. The detective turned her eyes towards Ren, who still hadn't move from the stairs. "I would imagine that you looked around for him, right? Is there any particular place you think he could've gone to?"</p><p>Ren kept himself from responding for a few instants, but spoke eventually. "...I'm sure he'll come back on his own. He was very angry when he left, so I'm giving him time to cool down. Don't worry too much about it, detective."</p><p>The café grew silent... Until Akechi stood up and her palm stamped against the counter, startling both the owner and Ren who focused their eyes on her. The brunette was shooting a really intense gaze towards Ren. "You are telling me that your cat ran away and you haven't even looked for him? If this is a joke Ren, then let me tell you that your taste for jokes is disgusting."</p><p>"Calm down Akechi-san, I'm sure he'll return once he gets hungry. No need to be so hard on the kid." Sojiro tried to defend Ren from Akechi's fury, but deep down Ren knew Akechi's words meant more than just an outburst of anger.</p><p>The detective turned her gaze back to Sojiro, who was practically pleading with his eyes for her to relax as he placed her coffee infront of her seat. Akechi just sighed and sat back down on her seat to take a sip of her coffee, with her tone of voice growing a bit colder. "It doesn't matter if he returns later, you should still look for him. That way, you show that at least you give a damn about his safety. But instead you're just sitting there and crossing your arms, doing nothing but wait for him to return on his own as if you didn't care for him at all. The Ren Amamiya I know wouldn't just sit down if someone was in danger, and he could do something about it."</p><p>Akechi's made Ren's body tense up; not because he was nervous, but because Akechi was right. <em>What the fuck am I doing? </em>Ren lifted his gaze, understanding perfectly what he had to do. "You're right, it's stupid of me to just sit back and do nothing." With these words, Ren got up from the stairs and walked up to the counter with his eyes on Sojiro. "I'm gonna go look for Mona now, I'll be back later alright?" When Sojiro nodded in approval, Ren turned his gaze to Akechi with a big smile on his face. "Thanks for helping me put my shit together, Goro-chan." </p><p>The detective returned him the smile; a genuine and real smile. "No need to, what're friends for if not for that?" Her expression grew a bit more serious. "Is there any particular place your cat could've run off to? I mean, I don't know, probably somewhere important..." the detective tried to subtly trigger the idea of Morgana being in the Metaverse.</p><p>It seemed like it worked, since Akechi noticed Ren's eyes growing wide for an instant, before he returned to his normal expression and took his phone out of his pocket. "Yes, I think there is a place like that. I'll give my friends a call and we will go look for him. You wanna join us, detective?"</p><p>"Ah, I'm afraid I can't go with you Ren. Don't get me wrong, I would love to help you find him but I honestly have too much work right now. I'm even lucky I found time to come here..." Akechi faked a little expression of sadness to boost the credibility of her lie. The truth was she didn't want to find out about her involvement of his rescue. "I'll just finish up my cup of coffee and return to my endless torture." Both Akechi and Ren giggled at her little joke, ignoring the clear surprise in Sojiro's eyes.</p><p>"Alright, I'll see you around soon detective. Take care and thanks again!" The raven boy waved Akechi goodbye before abandoning the café. Akechi waved her hand back at him a few seconds before the door closed, leaving her and Sojiro all by themselves. The way Akechi just acted with Ren managed to impress the café owner, who had only seen her act in a polite and gentle way towards others, totally different from what he just saw. Hell, they were even calling each other by their first names! </p><p>"Is something the matter, Sakura-san?" But just like that, Akechi went back to wearing her TV celebrity mask, which only served as a factor for the café owner to understand how close she and Ren actually were.</p><p>"Oh no, don't mind me lady. How's your coffee by the way?" Asked Sojiro changing the topic of the conversation, but still wearing his grin on his face, while Akechi took another sip on her cup and nodded with a big smile on her lips. </p><p>"It's as fantastic as always, Sakura-san."</p><p>                                       -------------</p><p>Once the café was fully empty, the Phantom Thieves gathered in the attic for Ren's sudden statement about knowing where Morgana had gone to.</p><p>"The Metaverse." Was all he said, causing all the eyes of the whole group to lay on him. The leader of the Phantom Thieves rested his chin between his right index and thumb while staring down at the table. "When Mona decided to ran away, he spoke something about going to change Okumura's heart on his own, so it's most likely that'll find him inside Okumura's Palace."</p><p>The dyed blonde vulgar boy known as Sakamoto Ryuji slammed a fist onto the table, seemingly angry at that statement. "Dammit! What the hell is he thinking?! He's only going to get himself killed like that!! I mean, I thought he was just barking that 'cause of the whole moment, but I didn't think he would actually go after him!!"</p><p>The blonde model known as Takamaki Ann crossed her arms on her chest while shaking her head. "No, it's actually not a weird thing to think he would go after Okumura by himself after how hurt he seemed when he left. You were cruel towards him, Ryuji, you should apologize to him once we find him!"</p><p>The blue haired Kosei boy known as Yusuke Kitagawa nodded with his gaze focused on Ryuji. "Indeed. You said a number of things that managed to hurt Mona in a huge scale, which directly caused him to think we do not have any appreciation for him."</p><p>Ryuji rubbed the back of his head, knowing perfectly that all the things his friends said were true. "I know... I guess I was just pissed off because he kept saying we were all chickening out on Okumura. I couldn't help myself on being mad, but I didn't need to hurt him that much..."</p><p>The orange haired headphone girl known as Futaba Sakura, who was sitting on her feet at the couch, grumbled a little out of her concern with her eyes looking down at the floor. Out of all, she could be considered the most concerned about Morgana's state. "Mona..." Her eyes suddenly adopted a firm look and turned to the whole group. "We should go and look for Mona right now! I already got Okumura's keywords, and we need to make sure he's safe." The whole team looked at Futaba; all of them seemed to agree with Futaba's suggestion.</p><p>"Yes, we should totally go and take a look, even if it's nightfall." Spoke the student council president Makoto Niijima with visible concern in her eyes. "If we don't at least check it out, there's a possibility that Morgana will end up spending the entire night inside the Metaverse and who knows what could happen to him inside the Palace. He could very well get exhausted and lose all his energy, leaving him unprotected against a shadow attack. We must go to Okumura's Palace and find Morgana." And to this, the whole group nodded and abandoned the café to go find their teammate.</p><p>The situation afterwards turned out to be easier in some sense and difficult on another one. It turned out to be easy because the Thieves didn't need to go into the metaverse at all, because when they were about to go into Okumura's Palace, they heard loud meowing coming from a nearby alley. But it also turned out to be difficult because of what came next; the Thieves went  to save their cat teammate from being kicked by a man in white suit who seemed to be harassing a Shujin Academy student known as Haru Okumura. After the man noticed he was being outnumbered by the teenagers, he threatened to tell Haru's father about the situation before running off, leaving the group in a massive confusion. How did this student and Morgana end up with this man? What was the relationship between the man and Haru? Too many questions and too little answers made the group consider prioritizing Haru and Morgana's safety; they would worry about the rest later.</p><p>Once the whole group brought Haru and Morgana back to Leblanc, the last two explained them what happened and how they met. Haru was out one night and found a cat running down the street; worried about where the cat could end up at, she decided to follow it and that's when she entered her father's palace along with Morgana. The two were looking to target Okumura and change his heart without the Thieves because... Morgana wished to prove them how useful he could be. Morgana explained that since Futaba joined the group, Ryuji had been pointing out how he wasn't doing anything too big for the group anymore and even though his words made him angry, the vulgar boy wasn't lying at all. He was hurt because he knew that he wasn't doing anything for the people he began to consider his only family... </p><p>"Listen, Ryuji I..." spoke the cat creature while trying to lift his gaze to the boy in question, but he didn't find the courage to do so. "I'm sorry for how a behaved with you. Your words hurt me yes... But I didn't exactly treat you well either, so in some way I deserved that slap on the face. I'm sorry for treating you so badly..."</p><p>"I'm sorry too Mona, what I did was totally uncalled-for. " The blonde boy rubbed the back of his head keeping his gaze away from the cat, seemingly uncomfortable. "It was shitty of me calling you useless... We are a team, and we all do something for it. So let's make peace, alright?" With these words, both of them found their eyes and nodded with a smile.</p><p>To say the rest were surprised would be speaking to little about it; the whole group was practically astonished by the fact Morgana and Ryuji not only apologized but even smiled at each other. It was so rare that Futaba couldn't help but take out her phone and take a picture, while Morgana and Ryuji tried to take said phone from her hands as the others burst into laughter. It was a very nice moment... But suddenly, Morgana went quite serious.</p><p>"Guys, there's something else we should tell you... Me and Haru met The Black Mask today, at Okumura's Palace."</p><p>Ren's eyes opened widely, Ryuji jumped back on his seat while screaming <em><strong>FOR REAL?!</strong></em>, Ann gasped in horror, Yusuke's expression grew a bit more conflicted Futaba's hands started shaking compulsively at the thought of her mother's killer finally appearing and Makoto eyes narrowed at the cat's words while her arms crossed tightly on her chest.</p><p>"Are you okay?! What did they do?! Did they hurt or something?!" Asked Ann, visibly concerned about Morgana's safety, but she didn't expect Haru to answer for both of them.</p><p>"No, <strong>she</strong> didn't do anything to us. In fact, <strong>she</strong> appeared when we were being surrounded d by a large group of shadows and saved us from suffering any possible damage." Spoke Haru with a hand on her chest, while the others, mostly Ryuji, looked at her in surprise.</p><p>"... She? Dude the Black Mask is a chick?! Now that's a hell of a surprise!" Ryuji's eyes stayed wide open while Ann that was sitting next to him turned her gaze to look at him with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>"Sexist." Was all she said, much to Ryuji's annoyance, who just rubbed the back of his head rapidly.</p><p>"'M not! I'm just saying I'm surprised The Black Mask is a girl that's all! I mean, up until now I just thought they would be a guy!"</p><p>"Sexist." Spoke Ren with a chuckle, just to mess up with him, causing Ryuji to grumble in frustration. After getting an exasperated look from Makoto, Ren nodded and just stayed quiet.</p><p>"Well, what happened after? Why was the Black Mask at Okumura's Palace" Asked Makoto with her eyes on Morgana. To her question, Morgana lowered his head to stare down at the table in silence, but he responded in the end. </p><p>"That girl was strong. <strong>WAY</strong> strong; her persona was able to annihilate shadows that were quite above our level in just a move, and since we were told by Kaneshiro and Madarame that she was the one behind the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns, I tried to be as cautious as I could when she appeared. Once she confirmed our suspicions and admited being the one behind those incidents, I was ready to fight if necessary but... She didn't attack. In fact, she claimed she wasn't looking to fight us but instead warn us. She gave us a message and asked us to deliver it to the rest of you." Morgana hesitated but shook his head to force the words to come out. "The message was 'Don't go after Okumura, it's all a trap. If you do not only him but the Phantom Thieves themselves will be in incredible danger.'"</p><p>The group's reaction was quite diverse; Ren only pressed his thumb and index harder against his chin, Makoto's eyes widened at the message, Ann seemed to have a bit of fear growing in her, Yusuke's face started showing some concern about the statement, Ryuji only clicked his tongue as if he was hardly annoyed and Futaba's expression of concern grew into one full of anger.</p><p>"Do you think she is threating us? Because those words seem to imply some evil intent if we don't fulfill her demands." Asked Yusuke with his usual neutral expression, but before Morgana could answer him, Ryuji threw a fist onto the table.</p><p>"If she is, then let her have it! We will kick her ass in no time!!" Spoke Ryuji with a lot of determination, but Morgana looked at him with a cold serious expression.</p><p>"We can't Ryuji. I didn't think the difference would be this extreme, but she could easily get rid of us in no time. Although..." Morgana seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. "I'm not sure about her true intentions. Like I said, she didn't even attempt to attack us even with the immense power gap that separated me and Haru from her. Still, that doesn't mean we should sleep on the matter either."</p><p>"Did she give you her name?" Asked Futaba with a bit of coldness; clearly she was the most affected by the situation, even if she tried not to show it. Haru was the one to answer this time.</p><p>"No, she didn't give us her name, but she did give us a code name. Crow." Spoke Haru and Morgana followed her words.</p><p>"Crow huh... I wonder what she is trying to imply with that codename." Ann seemed to be lost in her curious thought and fortunately morgana was there to answer her doubt.</p><p>"Well, her mask... no, more like helmet gives the view of a crow's beak, and her whole..." Morgana seemed to be trying to find a word to call her clothing, since it wasn't much of a thief outfit. It was a lot more like a knights- "Armor is all black. Add to that the fact she uses high ceiling structures to move around and stay away from the ground, just like a bird does." Morgana explained to Ann what could be the possible reasons for Crow to choose her codename. Makoto tried to bring back the conversation to its original course so that they wouldn't loose their focus on the matter</p><p>"Let's focus back on her message. I'm honestly having problems in understanding what her intentions are with those words. What did she mean by incredible danger? If she is threatening us, does she mean she'll go after Okumura as well? There's too little information to work with here." Makoto said these words with a frown of frustration due to the lack of information that they had at that moment. Suddenly, Ren's loud yawning interrupted the whole motion of the conversation.</p><p>"It's quite a complicated thing to deal with in one night. Both Morgana and Haru had quite an intense day, and all of us are somewhat tired after the encounter with Haru's fiancé. So you should all go home and rest for the night. Tomorrow after school we'll meet again and discuss our course of action with this new situation that has been presented to us, sounds good?" The whole team didn't seem contented by their leader's words, but they knew he was right. All of them were tired after that day, especially Haru and Morgana, and they had school the following morning. They couldn't afford messing up their academic lives because of their business as Phantom Thieves, so after everyone agreed with the leader's suggestion, the teenagers abandoned the café to go to their respective homes, leaving Ren alone at Leblanc. The raven boy used some of his time before bed to think about this whole thing; Why would Crow appear at that moment? Why would she just want to send them that kind of tricky message? Was she really threatening the Thieves?... Or was she really warning them about an upcoming danger? All this doubts kept him awake for a few hours before he could manage to go to sleep, with Morgana asleep on his chest.</p><p>                                    ----------------</p><p>Wednesday 14th of September</p><p>It wasn't that hard for Ren to go back into his day routine; woke up thanks to Morgana's paws on his face at 7 AM, go downstairs for Sojiro to give him breakfast at 7:10 AM after a few struggles to get up from bed, go back up to the attic to change into his uniform and abandon Leblanc by 7:30 AM to head to school. Pretty simple, not hard to follow. The best part of the morning though, was whenever he crossed someone at the train station to strike a friendly conversation. When he arrived to the station, a big smile of amusement appeared on his face when he found Akechi walking down the station, a few meters away from him. The raven boy waved his hand and called out for the detective girl as he walked closer to her "Heyyyy detective! Over here!" </p><p>Akechi turned her head when she heard someone speak the word 'detective', attempting to find the owner of the voice. As soon as she saw Ren walking up to her, a smile drew on her lips and started waving her hand to him. "Good morning Ren!" After a few seconds of walking, Ren finally reached Akechi. "How are you feeling today? Did you manage to find your cat?" </p><p>"Yes, I gotta thank you again for that. I really needed that mental slap you gave me last night. We found him with no problems, and he's completely fine. In fact, he is right here." Ren opened his bag, allowing Morgana to crawl onto his shoulder, only to look warily at Akechi.</p><p>Said girl couldn't help but be shocked at the cat's sudden presence. "W-Wait you're telling me you're taking your cat to school?! But isn't that against the school rules?! I mean what if he makes a noise while you are in class?!" Akechi seemed truly concerned about Ren taking his cat to school just like that without worrying about the consequences of getting caught.</p><p>Ren only chuckled at Akechi's words, which earned him a pout and for Akechi to cross her arms. "You don't need to worry, princess. I hide him under my desk during my class period, and he never makes any noise, so the teachers will never find out." Ren finished his words with a wink for Akechi.</p><p>The detective only sighed in exasperation, trying to still process the fact that this boy took a cat to school. "Ren, seriously, I sometimes can't tell if you are incredibly brave or if your head is just thick as a nut. You could get into serious trouble if you get caught!" Morgana was quite interested on the fact that Ren and Akechi interacted with such ease, taking the fact that Akechi was prior the investigator of the Phantom Thieves.</p><p>Seeing that Akechi wouldn't go back on her concern, Ren offered her a little smile of reassurance. "Don't worry about it, Goro-chan. The only way for them to complain is if I get caught, and that won't happen~" Morgana was now meowing loudly in his suprise. <em>Did Ren just call Akechi by her first name?! Whaaaaat?!</em></p><p>Akechi stared into Ren's eyes for a few seconds before she sighed heavily. "Alright, fine. I will hold on to your word, so please avoid getting caught, got it? Geez, you're such a problem guy, really..." The detective's exasperation was evident, but Ren only smirked in response.</p><p>"Is this a bad time to tell you that I don't take him just to school and that I take him almost everywhere I go? Because it seems like the perfect time to mention it." Ren spoke this words with a snort that wanted to turn into a massive laughter when Akechi lifted her gaze with her eyes wide open.</p><p><br/>
"YOU DO WHAT?! Now you are just joking. You can't be serious about this Ren, please..." Akechi stared at Ren expectantly for a few seconds before he shook his head. To this, Akechi rubbed her temples holding herself from yelling at him. "Oh my god, you are just... Unbelievable. There is no other adjective to define you, really."</p><p>"You know you love me that way." These words got him a hardcore glare from Akechi, who seemed ready to just walk away. "Anyway, no need for you to be worried princess. He's well-behaved and never causes any problems; I've been taking him everywhere I go for months and no one ever caught me having him around." </p><p>Akechi glared at him a few more instants before relaxing her piercing eyes. "Alright, I'll trust you on that." Her gaze turned to the cat on Ren's shoulder who got his guard up as soon as she looked at him. "So, what's the little guy's name?" </p><p>"His name is Morgana, but I call him Mona." The sudden statement seemed to surprise Akechi who tilted her head to a side.</p><p>"Morgana? Care to explain why your male cat has a female name?" 'Morgana though... Isn't that the name of a witch from the Arturian legends?' The cat seemed to grow annoyed by Akechi's words and started to shake his head, meowing loudly.</p><p>"Hell no! I'm a male! M with a capital M, for Morgana! Get that into your head will you?!" Even though Akechi could totally understand the feline, she just played as if she couldn't. If she wasn't pretending, she would just laugh at the poor cat.</p><p>Ren on the other hand didn't want Akechi to know he could understand the cat and just chuckled a little in response to Akechi's question. "The name was on his collar when I found him, although Sojiro wanted to name him Prince at first." </p><p>"Huh... Well, I do like the name Prince myself, but if his name is Morgana then there's no up for debate." The detective giggled. "He seems really close to you though... It's hard to believe he would just run away like he did." This wasn't a lie; Akechi really wondered what reason could bring Morgana to run away from Ren when he was so close to him.</p><p>The cat didn't take this words nicely and hissed at Akechi, who didn't back away and just stared at him. "Don't talk like you know anything about me! What's important is that I'm back with my friends and that's that!" </p><p>Akechi just chuckled while staring at the cat, clearly amused by how her words seemed to annoy him. "I'm already guessing what your answer will be, but are you sure he can stay quiet? He seems quite nosy, if you asked me." The cat meowed furiously at Akechi's statement, causing Ren, who was just as amused as Akechi, to try hold in a snort.</p><p>"Yeah, he's very quiet when I need him to be. He just gets a little agitated around strangers, that's all. I guess he just wants to protect me, like a guardian angel." Ren patted Morgana's head with his left hand. Said cat, with a loud purring, grumbled and grew a bit more silent.</p><p>Akechi's chin rested between her left index and thumb. "That statement is quite contradictory if you allow me to say. You must run into a lot of strangers when you go to different places; if what you say about him is true and you do take him anywhere you go to, then that would mean in consequence that he gets agitated most of the time. Wouldn't that mean he's constantly being nosy?" The detective's gaze wandered back to the cat. "Or perhaps it's me he doesn't like me in particular? I mean, he does seem to be quite bothered by my presence..." After a few seconds of silence, Akechi sighed and her eyes went back to look at Ren. "Oh well, that doesn't matter. As long as he doesn't get you in trouble, then it's okay. The last thing I want to know is that you got in trouble because of your little cat, alright?" The way Akechi was speaking to Ren reminded him somewhat of Makoto, constantly trying to make the rest of the gang avoid problematic situations, eat properly and take care of their health as much as they could. <em>Mamma Goro... Kinda funny.</em></p><p>This train of thought was interrupted by Morgana whispering to his ear. "I bet now she'll start talking about the Phantom Thieves. Every time we cross ways with her, she manages to sneak the Phantom Thieves into the conversation." The cat rested on Ren's shoulder, staring expectantly at Akechi.</p><p>But to his surprise, the detective took her phone and looked at it for just a moment before putting it back into her pocket and placing her gaze on Ren once more. "Well, I have to get going to school now, but I hope I get to see you again soon Ren." A big smile drew on her lips before she started walking towards her train line while waving at Ren. "Bye, have a good day!"</p><p>Ren waved back at Akechi and after a few seconds, the girl vanished within the crowd. Morgana wasn't just surprised, no no, he was ASTONISHED by what just happened in front of his eyes. He was silent for a bit, but spoke afterwards. "...Okay, I have SEVERAL questions. What the hell just happened? Why is Akechi calling you by your first name? No, scratch that WHY WERE <strong><em>YOU </em></strong>CALLING <strong><em>HER </em></strong>BY HER FIRST NAME?! How can she act so naturally and not polite?! Why didn't she make a comment on the Phantom Thieves?! Why does she seem so different now?! What the hell just happened?!"</p><p>"That last one doesn't count, you already asked it at the start." Ren turned his gaze towards the cat on his shoulder, noticing that he was intensely glaring at him. "Okay okay, I'll tell you, just stop glaring at me. During the course I attended last weekend, I ran into Goro. We both spent some time together and got along quite well with each other, to the point where I could say she and I are good friends. That's why she's a lot more loose around me and it's really nice to see her like that, since she looks a lot more comfortable." The raven avoided telling the cat some details, like the fact they had to share a hotel room together or that Akechi had blurted a lot of things about her past and even cried on his shoulder. 'That would be just too embarrassing, even for me.'</p><p>The whole explanation Ren gave to Morgana managed to make him calm down a bit and sigh. "Alright, I'm glad that you seem to... get along with her now, but remember that she's still haunting us and if she finds out that you are a Phantom Thief, then things won't be pretty at all." </p><p>"Yeah, I know Mona. Trust me, I'm very aware of how she thinks of the Phantom Thieves..." Ren looked down at his feet and a smile started to draw on his lips. "But I'm sure that with enough time, Akechi will change her mind and end up supporting us. But until that moment, I promise to be careful with her." Ren then turned his gaze towards the cat, who nodded at him. With that matter settled, Ren started walking towards the train line that would get him to Shujin Academy.</p><p>                                  ------------------</p><p>It was hard for the whole gang to focus on their classes. The group was too stressed out with the whole deal about Crow and her suspicious warning that left them with a huge amount of questions; hell, even Makoto who was a perfect role model student had it hard to pay attention and just forget about the Thieves during her class period. That's why when the very last bell rang, finally dismissing the school day, the first thing the gang did was call out of a meeting at the school rooftop to discuss their current situation. </p><p>The teenagers headed all together back to Leblanc, with Futaba already there and Yusuke heading there with them from the station, to discuss their next movement and how they should act now that they had a deadline involving Haru's arranged marriage. Once they were all settled in the attic, the first to argue in favor of targeting Haru's father was Ryuji. "Listen guys, we have to change Okumura's heart. If we do, he'll call off Haru's marriage contract for real!"</p><p>Followed by Futaba. "Ryuji's right guys. And even if we don't take in consideration Haru's contract, I already took a look at Niijima's case files and according to those files, Okumura's doing some wicked stuff that go even beyond slave labor." </p><p>But the line of agreement was broken by no other than Haru, who still took the warning they've been given seriously. "I know you're looking to do the right thing by changing my father's heart and I appreciate it a lot. But what about Crow's warning? Shouldn't we take her words into consideration too?"</p><p>"Haru, we can't let her get in our way!" Ann suddenly spoke up, startling Haru a little. "I know he's your father, but Okumura is the kind of person who needs to have a change of heart. We can't just back away from the job because of this person we don't even know!"</p><p>Yusuke was the next one to speak. "Still, wouldn't it be a little to rushed to head in knowing that Crow may as well be in the Palace? Even without her warning, she still knows how to go into the Metaverse and could as well try to stop us."</p><p>"I want to meet her." Spoke up the leader of the Phantom Thieves who had been quiet during the whole meeting. Seven pairs of widened eyes turned to look at him, incredolous about what they just heard. "She said that targeting Okumura was 'a trap', but she didn't specify the nature of it. We don't even know whose behind it or if she even has a role in that trap, which is why I believe we should meet with her and ask her for a few details. If we talk to her and all she blurts is crap, then we will for sure continue with our goal, but what if she brings up valid points? It would be a lot different if she'd said something like 'Don't go after Okumura or you'll regret it', which has no solid arguments, but she specifically said 'Don't go after Okumura because it's a trap'. That means she must know something we aren't aware of, reason enough for us to look into it." </p><p>With every single word Ren spoke he managed to make the group see the logic of his idea and once he was done with his full explanation, they all became convinced that it wasn't a bad idea at all. </p><p>The first to support this idea was Yusuke. "That is indeed a sensible plan. If we somehow manage to speak with her, then we would be able to find out the nature of the trap. The real question is, how do we find her?"</p><p>"I don't think it'll be too difficult." Makoto was the one to respond to Yusuke's doubt almost instantly. "I'm pretty sure that she's keeping tabs on our Metaverse actions, which means that if we go into the Palace then we have a pretty high chance of running into her there."</p><p>Ren followed up Makoto's statement. "I agree with her. Well, what do you say gang? You all ready to rock?" The whole group nodded firmly, wearing big smiles of confidece on their faces. When he saw them smiling, Ren's lips curled up into his classic Joker smirk. "Alright, it's showtime!"</p><p>The Phantom Thieves rolled into action. The Palace wasn't that big of a deal, expect for one or two shadows that proved to be quite difficult to defeat, even for Ren who was using strong personas in his arsenal. After a few minutes of searching through the Palace, the team ran into Okumura's shadow who managed to make the whole group disgusted and incredibly angry at him. He spoke about his daughter as if she was nothing more than a tool to accomplish his own personal goals, and he even said he didn't even care of what her fiancé did to her, as long as she didn't screw with his own plans. Luckily, this served as a catalyst to make Haru awaken into her true power and defeat her father's cognition of Sugimura with absolute easy, with the help of her new friends of course. With the defeat of Okumura's cognitive version of Sugimura, the team went on through the space ship until...</p><p>The team stopped when a sudden chuckle echoed through the Palace. All of them turned their faces to different directions in an attempt to find the source of that noise, but none of them could find it. And so, a cold sharp feminine voice spoke. "It appears that you've decided to ignore my warning... I was hoping you wouldn't, though."</p><p>"Show yourself!! Or what, you gonna go hide like a coward?!" Ryuji, known as Skull inside the Metaverse, spoke defiantly towards the owner of the voice, who only laughed in response to Skull's question.</p><p>"Hide~? But I'm right here~ All you need to do is look up~" And when everyone did, the sight shocked the hell out of them. There she was, the Black Mask known as Crow, standing on the ceiling structure while waving a hand at the Phantom Thieves, grinning under her black beak like helmet. "Even if I wished you didn't come over, I'm still quite happy to meet the boy band that has been coursing through the Metaverse." And with those words, Crow jumped from the ceiling structure, landing on her feet in front of the Phantom Thieves. She stood up slowly to reveal how tall she actually was, being even taller than Ann, known as Panther, who was the tallest member of the female members. </p><p>Futaba, who in the Metaverse was known as Oracle, stepped back slowly. "G-Guys be careful... Her power level is insane! She's at very least two times stronger than us if my analysis is correct!" Futaba warned them with a glimpse of fear in her voice.</p><p>Most of the group members seemed to hear her warning, except for Skull who took a step forward. "So you are the infamous Crow huh?" He pointed an accusing finger at Crow. "Is it true you're the one behind the mental shutdowns?! Kaneshiro and Madarame spilled the beans about you, so you better speak up the truth!!"</p><p>"Yes, I'm the one responsible for those incidents." Her answer came out cold and dry, with no single trail of emotion in her voice. </p><p>Oracle was gritting her teeth while making tight fists with her hands and the other members were on the edge, except for Ren who only kept quiet and stared at her with a neutral look in his eyes.</p><p>"And even so you admit it just like that?!" Asked Skull with pure fury in his voice, to which Crow did nothing and just stood there with her arms crossed.</p><p>Panther was also angry as hell with Crow, and she made it clear when she spoke up. "We can't even start to count the people you've harmed, not to mention all the ones you've killed! And now you just stand there, admitting all that like it doesn't matter to you at all?! You really are a monster!"</p><p>"Don't you dare make assumptions about me like that!" Crow's voice rose dangerously causing a massive echo through the room that made the whole group take a step back. However, she still kept her arms crossed, with the only difference that the Thieves could feel the fury towards Panther for calling her 'monster'. "You know nothing about me. I'm very aware of all the things I've done, and I don't intend on running away from the consequences of my actions."</p><p>Suddenly, the former Beauty Thief, now known as Noir, took a step forward with a less threatening intention than the other two members. "If you don't mind answering, why would you do all those things?" Asked Noir with her characteristic gentle tone of voice.</p><p>"I was following orders." Answered Crow and before she could say anything else, Skull butted in with his words.</p><p>"Oh so now you're just gonna put the blame on someone else? We've already seen people like you; you're no different than Kamoshida Madarame and Kaneshiro, blaming society for their crimes. 'I'm being forced to do a lot of bad crap, I'm just a victim here' that's all a big load of crap!!" Skull stated firmly with a loud voice.</p><p>Crow tightened her grip on her right bicep when she heard Skull's words. She hesitated on answering to his words, but did so in the end after sighing. "... Even if it's true that I've been forced to do these actions, I won't try to justify them. I know perfectly that my deeds are, cruel, heartless and unforgivable by any means." Afterwards, Crow shook her head. "But that's enough about me, I'm here to speak about your boy band, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts." The whole group seemed annoyed at being called 'boy band' over and over, but they kept quiet about it. Suddenly, Crow's gaze went down to Mona. "Oh, that reminds me, I see that you've returned to your group already. Talk about speed, huh?" </p><p>"That's none of your business, Crow!" Responded Mona, without any trace of joy at Crow's statement. "That isn't the reason you've come to us. You're here to tell us something, so spill it out now!"</p><p>Suddenly, Ren Amamiya known as the Joker, called a few steps closer, closing the distance between him and Crow. His hands were inside his pockets, and his face showed a hardcore coldness. "You warned us to not target Okumura because it was a trap, yet you didn't give us any details on the matter.  We want you to explain the true nature of this 'trap' you took the time to warn us about."</p><p>Crow stared at Joker for a few seconds before she sighed heavily. "You guys are really clueless of what you're getting yourselves into... But if you came here to ask for the trap, then I guess I have no choice but to speak up about it. Although, I was really hoping to avoid giving too much detail about the situation, because the more you know about it, the more dangerous it'll be for you." Crow then placed one of her hands on her hips, while tilting her hip to a side. "The rankings of the Phansite have been manipulated; most of the names and votes of the website are fake accounts." She kept it simple, but it was enough for the whole group to be taken aback.</p><p>"Are you serious?!" Panther was the first to speak after the shock. "But who would do something like that?! More importantly, why in the world would they do something like that?!" </p><p>Crow turned her gaze to look directly at Panther and answered to her questions. "The who is a bit tricky; the ones who hacked the website and placed those fake accounts and votes was the same group that posed as Medjed during July. The why isn't too complicated to deduce; it's all crafted with the intention of leading your group to target President Okumura."</p><p>Oracle followed up the conversation. "So... What you're saying is that those accounts were just posers? I see... That would explain why the code their using was so lame and amateurish. But still, this doesn't make any sense at all to me!"</p><p>"I have to agree. What would be the issue of going after Okumura when this Palace." Makoto Niijima, known in the Metaverse as Queen, started to move her hands, motioning all the scenery around them. "Is a perfect proof of how wicked he actually is? He's clearly doing horrible and despicable things to others!" </p><p>The group was shocked when they noticed Crow wasn't even standing on her spot anymore. Worried that she might've ran away, the whole group started to search for her with their eyes. "Of course he is, I'm not blind to my surroundings you know?" At the sound of her voice, the Thieves turned to find her sitting at the top of a metal shelving, with her right leg crossed over her left one. <em>Fucking hell, she's fast </em>thought Joker without loosing his cool. Crow started waving her right foot from side to side, while looking down at the Thieves. "Okumura is just the same as all the people that are involved with the organization I ended up working for. And..." The rage within her increased rapidly. "The mastermind is the worst of them; he picks up his pawns based on how useful they can be for him, to then get rid of them once he has fully squeezed the last drop of use he can get out of them. This is exactly what he's planning to do with Okumura, in fact."</p><p>Crow didn't miss Noir's reaction, which was gasping of horror as worry slowly filled her eyes. Crow wasn't quite aware of why she reacted like that, but she didn't put much thinking to it.</p><p>"RAAAAAH THIS MAKES SO FUCKING SENSE WHATSOEVER!!" Skull rapidly scratched the sides of his head before looking back at Crow. "What the hell are you even saying?! Why would we even be involved in th-"</p><p>"WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE HELL UP AND LET ME FINISH MY GOD DAMN EXPLANATION?!" Yelled Crow in pure irritation, managing to startle... No, to SCARE the whole group, with the exception of Joker who just widened his eyes a bit at the sudden yell. Crow cleared her throat and crossed her arms before continuing. "The problem is that your group has been gaining a lot of attention lately, which has managed for the mastermind to get his eyes on you. <strong>The mastermind is the one who stole the cognitive research</strong> and has been planning to use it for his personal gain, but right now you're one big obstacle in his way, thanks to your sneaky works inside the Metaverse." </p><p>The one that was most surprised by this was Oracle, who gasped in pure shock at Crow's statement. "He's the one... the cognitive psience research..." Oracle seemed to murmur something to herself after her words.</p><p>"Yes, and as I said before, he manipulated the rankings with the intention of having your boy band targeting him. As you may have noticed already, the public has grown to be quite expectant of your group's course of action and their eyes had been completely glued to the forum for the past month, waiting for any kind of news on you. The idea was that once you had sent the calling card, he would cause a massive commotion with the social media showing the public that you've indeed chosen to target Okumura. And after that..." Crow's voice suddenly went silent suddenly. </p><p>The one who stepped up to try and make Crow finish her explanation was the leader of the group, Joker, who seemed to be the most composed out of them even with all the things Crow was throwing at them. "Please, finish what you're saying. What happens after we send the calling card to Okumura?" </p><p>Crow's gaze fell down to her knees, still not saying anything. She felt... genuinely bad about what she had to say, but she eventually found the courage to speak it up after lifting her eyes to look back at the Thieves. "He intends to make me cause a mental shutdown on President Okumura right after you send the calling card, so that all the blame of the mental shutdown falls right onto your shoulders." </p><p>There was no way to describe how the Phantom Thieves were at that moment; Joker, who had been the most calm and composed of them, widened his eyes in the extreme shock. Nothing in the world could've actually prepared any of them for this revelation. A sharp silence filled the room, before Skull fell down to his knees and hit the ground with his fist. "What the fuck?! This is so messed up, god dammit!!" </p><p>"You haven't heard the worse part yet." All the Phantom Thieves turned their gazes up to Crow, incredulously staring at her and not being able to believe that it wasn't over. Crow leaned a little and rested her right elbow on her right leg at the same time the right side of her helmet rested on her fingers, which were curled up in a tight fist. "Thanks to your exponential increase of popularity, if the mental shutdown were to happen to your specific target, then you would have to stand and watch how the whole public turns their backs on you. As a consequence of this, not only you'll have the whole public against you, but the police force will take the most logical course of action and blame your group for <strong>ALL</strong> of the mental shutdown incidents that have occured so far."</p><p>"S-So basically <strong>we</strong> would have to take the blame for all of <strong>your</strong> crimes!" Oracle yelled at Crow. She noticed how the young girl seemed not only conflicted but angry at her, which was in her total right.</p><p>Crow sit back straight and crossed her arms once more, while averting her gaze to a side. Her shame was impossible to describe. "... I'm sorry." Was all that came out of her mouth, but she knew it wasn't enough for everything she had done.</p><p>Still, Skull had to be Skull and keep moving the knife on the wound. "Sorry?! After all the things you've done, after all the people you've hurt and even killed, that's all you have to say?! That you're sorry?!" </p><p>Suddenly, Crow was no longer sitting at the shelving and the group didn't notice when or how, but she was standing only a few centimeters away from Skull. All the group took a step back except for Skull, who was instantly frightened for what he saw. He could see fury in Crow's eyes piercing through him, managing to make the vulgar thief shiver a little. "If you're so good on this kind of matter, be my guest and tell me what the fuck I should do. Don't you think I'm not aware that a simple 'I'm sorry' won't bring back all the people I've killed? Oh but then again, you seem to be quite experienced on the subject, so c'mon, speak up your mind, since you seem to be so fucking good at it." </p><p>"T-The fuck is wrong with you, you f-" Skull seemed to regain a bit of courage and was ready to start up a fight with Crow, but he was abruptly stopped.</p><p>"SKULL, STAND DOWN!" The sound of his leader calling his code name managed to calm down the thief, who just remained quiet and took a step back. Joker patted a little on his teammate's shoulder, to then turn his gaze towards Crow. He understood how Skull felt, but the situation needed the whole team to be fully serious, so they couldn't keep messing around by yelling at their source of information. "Sorry about that; please, finish what you were trying to explain, Crow." </p><p>"Thank you, Leader." Crow bowed her head just a little toward Joker before she kept on with the rest of the story. "As I was saying, with all the weight of the mental shutdown incidents, the whole country will start treating you as the most dangerous criminals of Japan. They will start to hunt you down, and with all the influence he has inside the police for and the <strong>Special Investigation Unit,</strong> they could easily catch you in nothing more than a blink. And if you get caught, your lives would be definitely over, with a huge chance of getting the death penalty."</p><p>At the mention of the SIU, Queen gasped with a hand on her mouth. "No... The Special Investigation Unit would come after us...?! I-I... No, this can't really be true..." She seemed really terrified by it.</p><p>Skull, who was oblivious about what the institution was, turned his eyes towards Queen intending to ask her about it. "The Special Investigation Unit...? What the hell is that?"</p><p>"As the name gives it, it's a special unit that consists of the most capable investigators in all of Japan." Queen answered. "During the course of its existence, the SIU has dealt with international level scandals and their success rate in the cases they've taken part of makes them one of the most successful investigation institutions in the whole world. According to many records, the SIU hasn't failed one single case in at least 50 years!"</p><p>"W-What...?! And those people would go after us?! No way...! B-But they literally have no proof about it!" Skull went quiet for a few instants, before turning his sight back to Crow... "Unless you plan to sell us out!!! Yo-" or at least, where she used to be standing. Once more, the mysterious persona user had vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of her presence.</p><p>"And you think they need proof?" The sound of Crow's voice made the whole group look up at the ceiling to see that Crow was now sitting at the ceiling structure of the room, swinging her legs back and forth. "Let me answer that for you, they don't need it. They will just end up fabricating false evidence that directly incriminates you, and since all the public would be against your boy band by that time, then the matter would be settled in no time." Crow suddenly pointed a finger towards the Phantom Thieves. "Answer me this, why do you think that the SIU has such level of success in the cases the've had so far?" The group remained quiet and Crow stopped pointing at them. "Well, that's because the SIU director is not only an expert when it comes to fabricating evidence to maintain the SIU's reputation but also someone who doesn't doubt in putting success before anything else. That's how he ended up working for 'him', after all." </p><p>Some of the Thieves had to fight the need to sit down; this was all just too much to take in. Joker in particular placed a hand on his forehead, feeling his body temperature and the sweat running down his face. <em>No... This can't be real... </em>thought Joker in desperation. The idea of loosing everything again and for his friends to suffer the same things he did, managed to scare him in a way he hadn't been like since the night before his trial. For a moment, he thought this could all be an incredibly well crafted story to scare the shit of the Phantom Thieves but...</p><p>"This is just madness... Are you seriously implying that de SIU department is going as far as incriminating innocent people to maintain their successful reputation?!" Queen spoke up, breaking the silence that had filled the room, refusing to believe Crow's statement. "Not only that, but you also say that they've been forging evidence?! These accusations you're giving are just too much!"</p><p>"Oh please, I'm just stating the facts here. I've been working for 'him' too, remember? I've seen the corruption of the SIU with my own eyes." Crow crossed her left leg over her right leg and tapped on her left knee with one of her fingers. "Although, if my words aren't enough for you, I could always take you to the SIU director's Palace and show you a piece of his twisted morality." </p><p>"No way... The SIU director has a palace?!" Panther seemed incredulous to Crow's words, but she got a nod as a response to her question.</p><p>"Yes, all the people involved in this conspiracy have one, and they're all monsters that would crush anyone on their path in order to gain more sucess or power." The Thieves noticed how the expression behind Crow's mask became somewhat concerned. "Seriously, you do not know what you're going up against; you can't begin to understand how awfully corrupted the world is, and I'm the living proof of it. You guys have to pull yourselves away from this mess while you still can. The best you can do at the moment is abandon the Metaverse and forget it every existed, ceasing your actions as Phantom Thieves for good."</p><p>"You want our group to disband...?!" Panther eyes widened up as she spoke. As an answer to her question, Crow nodded.</p><p>"You expect us to walk out of this so that you can run through the Metaverse and do whatever the hell you want?!" Skull was the next one to speak, protesting at Crow. "Like we would even do that! You're probably just telling us all of this so that some shady intention, like getting us out of your way so you can keep up with your crimes!!" Skull had a point on that; in fact, most of the teammates believed that it would be the case that Crow was just trying to get rid of them in her own way.</p><p>"Your statements are also too hard to believe. How could one of the most dependable institutions in Japan use such a dirty tactic as forging evidence to incriminate innocent people for the sake of their own success?" Asked Fox, to which Crow tilted her head gently to a side.</p><p>"Is it really that hard to believe? I mean, what makes them different from Madarame or Kaneshiro? Was it hard to believe that Madarame had so much influence that he practically had the art world beneath his thumb and was able to ruin potential artist lives? Or was it hard to believe when you eventually found out that Kaneshiro managed to turn actual students into his smugglers without anyone being able to do anything to stop him? This is exactly the same thing, with the only difference that the people you're starting to involve yourselves with are not only aware of the existence of the Metaverse, but they also have very important positions in the political and economical latter, and they're the kind of people that wouldn't doubt on killing you and burying you in their backyards." Her words came out so coldly that the group couldn't help but stare at Crow with pure fear in their eyes.</p><p>The team wasn't able to accept the fact that Crow was right on what she said. The situation she described was just the same as any of their previous targets; corruption and taking advantage of the weak. However, this was in a whole other level, since it wasn't just a person, it was a whole group of powerful people that was also aware of how the Metaverse worked. It was incredibly dangerous for them to take even a single step, since the whole case had turned into a minefield with a huge chance of the Thieves making a wrong move. The pressure of Crow's words caught up to most of the group members who were starting to have headaches or even knots in their stomachs that threatened to grow into vomiting.</p><p>"But it's true that I can't expect you to trust my words." Crow spoke up breaking the silence that had suddenly covered the whole room as she stood up and stretched her arms above her head. "I finally told you in person the whole details of the trap, but if that's not enough, then your free to investigate by yourselves. I'm pretty sure you have the means to do so, if we take the fact that you defeated the fake Medjed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my leave. See you around, Phantom Thieves..." Crow started taking steps back into the shadows of the ceiling while waving and grinning at the boy band. After a few steps back, the only thing the Thieves were able to see were two red points which were the lenses of her mask, before she fully disappeared into the darkness.</p><p>"I can't believe it... Her signal just went off! As if she had just left the Palace the moment she stepped into the darkness!" Oracle tried to find her by using her persona, but it was futile. Crow had just vanished into thin air. The tension that came after Oracle's words could be easily cut with a knife; the group wasn't able to believe the things they just heard and for a moment the Palace became the most silent.</p><p>"That was all a load of bull'!!" The first to break the silence was Skull, who's hands were curled into tight fists. "She must be lying!! It's all a trick to pull us back!!" The vulgar thief moved his eyes towards the leader. "Right Jo-" The words died in the thief's mouth when he noticed how his leader's shoulders were shaking, visibly nervous and even scared. "J-Joker...?" </p><p>When the leader heard Skull calling for him, he swallowed silently and sighed in an attempt to relax his shoulders. "I don't know... There's a slight chance that everything she did could be the real trap and that she'll keep doing whatever she wants with the Metaverse. She could also be trying to give us a false image on the SIU department and the police force, so that she can execute a plan against them but... It could also be all true..." A few seconds passed before Joker realized what he was doing, acting weak in front of his teammates. With a hand move to wave the tail of his coat, the leader turned to his team, wearing his classic Joker-esque serious look. "The good thing is that we have information to work with, so let's focus on doing our thing now."</p><p>"Right! I'll look into the databases online to see what I can find! I'll also check inside the website's code to see if there are any traces of previous hacking!" Oracle spoke holding her fists in front of her chest while nodding.</p><p>"I'm sure that the SIU director is my sister's superior. If all that Crow said is true, then there's a high chance that my sister might be in danger! I'll do whatever I can to get the director's name and check if he does have a Palace." Declared Queen with a firm nod.</p><p>"Alright girls, I'll leave it up to you. Let's assemble once Queen and Oracle are done with their search to discuss our course of action, okay?" 'Yeah!', 'You got it man!', 'Very well', 'Of course!', 'Roger that!', 'Mreow!'. With all these answers, the group decided it was time to go back to the real world.</p><p>When the Thieves abandoned the Metaverse, all of them were in a massive silence. Neither of them said a word, but the worst one in that situation was Ren. Of course, he didn't want to speak about how he felt with all the situation, but the truth was he felt massively terrified. He had already been through that awful process of being labelled and blamed for things he didn't do at all, but it isn't himself that worried him. It was his friends; the had all suffered from respective situations for sure, but they haven't truly experience what it was to be falsely incriminated like he had been. They didn't know what it was like to be treated directly as a criminal, with everyone looking at him with the fear that they would be assaulted or even killed. Not to mention the fact that thanks to a criminal record, almost every single chance of having a future without issues was lost. They wouldn't stand all that, and how could they? Ren was practically broken the day he was arrested, thinking that there was no possibility of him ever believing in something. Now that he had this amazing friends with him, the last thing he wanted was for them to go through all the awful things he had to endure that night.</p><p>He was secretly hoping that all the dark persona user said was a lie and that they would just take her down once they discovered her true intentions. But... There was also this part of him that wanted to trust in Crow's words. He couldn't be sure about it, but he felt like he had this particular connection Crow that could only be compared with his Confidant relationships. With his confidants he had this some sort of empathy that made him feel what they felt and as a consequence of this, he could understand better that they were going through even if he hadn't experienced those things himself per se. The question that roamed in Ren's mind was how could he get this feeling that was purely characteristic of his confidant relationships towards someone that he barely knew? How could he feel truly sad about a person that they had just met a few hours ago?</p><p>When Ren finally reached Leblanc, the first thing he did was take a hot long shower at a little bathroom that was at the back of the café, and once he was fully relaxed, he went back to the attic to lay down on his bed. It had been quite a long day, so he would go to sleep earlier than usual, but first would check his phone messages to see if there was anything important. There wasn't anything important and just as he was about to put his phone away, his eyes went to focus on the latest contact he had added to his list: Goro Akechi. Ah yes, they had exchanged contact info when they came back from the hotel room. <em>Could she... Maybe she could help me with this. She's a detective and I'm sure she would be happy to help. </em>Thought Ren, but this slight glimpse of hope died when he thought it a bit more through. If he were to ask her to get him specific information, the detective girl would grow suspicious of him. Ren put his phone away, before closing his eyes and sighing heavily with Morgana sleeping next to him. After a few minutes of just keeping his eyes closed, the raven fell asleep, allowing his mind to find some peace in his dreams.</p><p>                                    ---------------</p><p>Thursday 15 of September</p><p>"She wasn't lying." The Phantom Thieves were all gathered at the attic after a long school day; luckily for them, Leblanc had no costumers at the moment and Sojiro had gone out, so they had all the place for them. No one spoke a word on the way to Leblanc due to the persistent tension from the past day. Futaba was the first to speak at the meeting. "I was digging into the website and it wasn't that hard to notice the traces of hacking that were left in it. After a long day of digging I can confirm that at least seventy-five percent of the accounts used to vote in the ranking of the Phansite are fake. The code used to hack the site was exactly the same one used by that group that passed as Medjed, so Crow didn't lie on that." Futaba wasn't excited about telling her friends this, but she had to.</p><p>"My investigation lead me to a similar place." Followed Makoto with a conflicted expression on her face. "I didn't have the courage to ask my sister about the SIU director, but I did some research online. Thanks to that, I found some articles online in which I managed to find his name and... it's confirmed that the director has a palace."</p><p>And the tension returned, just like that. That couldn't be...</p><p>"Crow... Was saying the truth...? Could all the things she said be true...?" Panther barely managed to murmur her words, as if she was saying them to herself more than to the rest of the group. Her eyes were wide, and she held both of her hands against her chest.</p><p>"W-Wait up a second guys! We have established that someone having a Palace doesn't necessarily mean they're evil!" Morgana tried to argue against the veracity of Crow's words. "I mean, Futaba is a perfect example of that! She had a Palace and was not evil at all!" </p><p>"That may be true but..." Makoto was about to counter Morgana, but she was abruptly interrupted by the cat.</p><p>"Think about guys. For all we know, this girl could be giving us these particular facts to mislead us and have us fall into another trap! We shouldn't even consider trusting her words!" Morgana looked around to the other members, particularly at Ren who had been quiet the whole time.</p><p>"Even so Mona, we mustn't overlook the fact that Crow was indeed right on the things she told us." Ren finally spoke up, while pressing his chin onto his right dumb and index and his eyes staring down at the ground.</p><p>Ryuji was gritting his teeth hardly while having his eyes wide open and his hands curled into tight fists. "Dammit...!! If all that Crow girl said is true, and we start getting blamed by those mental shutdown incidents, then Akechi will be the first to hold onto that!! It'll be the perfect way for her to gain back her popularity!!" </p><p>"Ryuji's right on that." Spoke Ann as she crossed her arms with clear anger in her face. "Remember she was the very first person to imply that the mental shutdowns and the changes of heart could be connected, trying to blame us for them. If this whole trap deal is true, then Akechi will take the advantage to point her accusing finger onto us..." Ann clicked her tongue, visibly annoyed.</p><p>"Hey... Her name is pretty high in the ranking too right?" Ryuji started speaking up his idea. "How 'bout we-"</p><p>"She doesn't have a palace." Was all that Ren said, enough to get the seven people in the room to stare at him. "I already checked it by myself and there was no hit. So forget that idea of changing her heart."</p><p>"Huh?! Are you serious?! How can someone so much of a bitch as her not have a Palace?!" Ryuji protested angrily.</p><p>"She. Doesn't." Ren didn't actually mean for his words to come out so cold, but he couldn't hold it in. He couldn't help but to be... angry at Ryuji's idea of changing Akechi's heart. "Besides, what's with that idea of targeting people that aren't on our side? Do you want to prove her right on us repressing others who do not think the same as us? Because if we tried to change her heart, that's what we would be doing." Ren went silent for a few seconds. "When you all left to Hawaii and I had to go to that entrepreneurship, me and Akechi ran into each other in the hotel I was staying at. During one of our discussions about the Phantom Thieves, she told me that if we followed the rankings of the website it would prove that we are only after the fame and eliminating any opposition, just like Okumura does by taking advantage of the mental shutdown incidents that happen to his rivals in the fast food business."</p><p>"Do you mean those same incidents that were in my Sis' files...?!" Makoto was utterly surprised to hear Ren's words. "That means she is following exactly the same train of thought my sister has about those incidents; that Okumura may be ordering shutdowns on his competitors to benefit the growth of his company." Makoto's gaze fell onto her lap, staring at her hands.</p><p>Suddenly, she felt a little sobbing next to her; it was Haru who was trying hardly not to cry. "M-Mako-chan... Could my father really be going as far as getting rid of the competition with such... despicable means...?" </p><p>Makoto panicked a little and  placed one of her hands on Haru's back trying to comfort her. "A-Ah I'm very sorry Haru, I didn't mean to make you feel-"</p><p>"No it's alright Mako-chan, I understand." The poor girl wiped the tears from her eyes before they could start falling down her face. "I'm just realizing how selfish I was from the start. All I thought about was changing my father's heart because I wanted him to call off the marriage contract, without ever thinking of all the cruel things he has done to others. The more I hear, the more I'm sure that his heart must be changed...!" She grew silent for a few instants. "But what if Crow's words are true and there's a trap waiting for us...?" </p><p>"So you want us to do as she wants and disband?! We can't do that!! What'll happen about our fans we have gained so far?!" Ryuji tried to argue once more against Crow, but all his bickering came with a price. Ren stood up from his chair while looking at Ryuj with a look of anger.</p><p>"All I'm hearing from you Ryuji is fans this, fans that. What the fuck do we care about the fans?! Did we stop Kamoshida because of the fans? Hell no, we stopped him because he was torturing students without getting any kind of punishment. Did we rescue Ann for the fans? What about Mishima? What about Shiho?! Was it all about the fans back then?!" Ren looked furious. "What about Yusuke huh? Did we save him because of some crappy popularity or because he was suffering abuses from Madarame?! We became the Phantom Thieves to help people, to become a light of hope for the weak! Plain and simple!" </p><p>Both Ann and Yusuke stared at the raven with a look of sadness in their eyes while whispering 'Ren...' beneath their breath. Ryuji grew angrier and his voice started to raise up its volume. "But we all agreed that the fame is something we need for people to even realize our existence!! How can we expect people to know it's us making a difference and wanting to encourage them to do the same if we don't get famous?!"</p><p>The raven started to raise his voice as well for it to be at the same level as Ryuji's. "I'm perfectly aware that was the deal, but if what Crow said turns out to be true then that same fame we have will be our doom!!"</p><p>Ryuji wasn't going to quit pressing on. "AND YOU ARE GOING TO TRUST CROW OUT OF ALL PEOPLE?! IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T REALIZED YET, REN, SHE'S THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE MENTAL SHUTDOWNS! SHE KILLED <strong>FUTABA'S MOTHER</strong> AND WHO KNOWS HOW MANY PEOPLE!!"</p><p>And he got his response, being it Ren slamming both of his hands onto the table, yelling at his full lung. "<strong>I KNOW!!!!</strong>" The group went silent at just stared at Ren; he had never lost his cool like he had at that moment, which managed to startle the team. Ren lowered his head after a few seconds, gritting his teeth tightly. "I'm... Scared. I'm fucking scared about all this. We are not up against someone like Kamoshida, Madarame or Kaneshiro who were just one person each. Now we are getting into a mess with a lot of people that are not only extremely powerful but also aware of the existence of the Metaverse. It's all so dangerous and..." Ren's hair covered his eyes, attempting to hide the sadness in them. "I don't want you to suffer all that. I know what's it like to be falsely-accused by something I didn't do, and if the trap is real, that exact same thing will happen to you in a whole other level. Any chance of a future that you could have would be just ripped away from you with no mercy, and we could even die in the whole process... I can't afford to allow that to happen, not to my friends." Ren just stood there, with his palms pressed on the table.</p><p>The group was just speechless towards this statements. Have they considered at all what their leader thought about the situation? Not just that, but he wasn't fully concerned about himself but about them as well. He was an incredible leader...</p><p>Ryuji put a hand on his best friend's shoulder, truly ashamed about what he just did. "I'm sorry man. I... You were thinking about how this would affect us and I just cared about fame. I fucked up big, sorry..." </p><p>"I'm sorry too, Ren..." Ann moved her sight from Ren to the ground. "It's true, we didn't stop our previous targets because of popularity, we did it because it had to be done and for other people to see they're not alone on this. But when we became famous, our goals became unclear, and we started to only focus on what the public thought about us. We should've been better than that..." </p><p>"Yes, I must agree with Ann. When I was submitted  to Madarame's influence, you all went to rescue me, even if at first I tried to push you away. I became a Phantom Thief myself to contribute to this and give other people hope of never being under other people's control like I was once. How foolish of me to forget the reason I fought for until this point..." Yusuke made a very tight fist with his right hand while looking down at the table.</p><p>"Even with Kaneshiro..." Makoto was the next one to follow up the train of thought. "We went after him because he was using students as smugglers and because he destroyed a lot of lives. Our goal was to help the innocent and protect the weak, but we started to lose sight of all the things that made us Phantom Thieves to begin with."</p><p>Morgana lowered his gaze in defeat. "Akechi... Dammit, she almost got us good this time."</p><p>"What can we do about this...?" Ryuji asked a bit hesitant, but his response came quickly.</p><p>"We'll prove her that she's wrong." Ren spoke firmly with determination burning in his eyes. "We must show her and the public our justice."</p><p>Ryuji's confidence started to come back and his lips curled into a grin. "Haaaa, I was thinking you would chicken out after all that shit you said, leader."</p><p>"Like hell I would." Ren looked at his teammates with a smile. "Even if I know it's dangerous, I can't fight my will to help others. If the law system is just as corrupted as Crow told us it is, then I will break it down to shreds! We will find a way to bring each of them to justice, because that's why we are Phantom Thieves!!" Ren put a hand at the center of the table.</p><p>"And that's the Ren we all know and love. Damn yeah we will!!" Ryuji put his hand above Ren's while grinning.</p><p>"Well well, it seems that we gotta get serious now huh?" Ann placed her right hand above Ryuji's, following up the hype.</p><p>"Marvelous! A group of people whose hearts were once sunk in fear, come back from the ashes of despair, burning with the new fire of hope" Yusuke placed his hand above Ann's. "We shall show them who we truly are."</p><p>"Alright, no more backing down! We'll make them pay for causing suffering to innocent people!" Makoto placed her hand above Yusuke's.</p><p>"Mweheheehehehehe, I'll make sure to be the eye that guides you all to supreme victory against rotten adults!!" Futaba placed her hand above Makoto's.</p><p>"Father... We'll bring everyone that dares to prey on the weak to justice, with no hesitation!!" Haru placed her hand above Futaba's and lastly, Morgana placed his paw on top of Haru's hand.</p><p>"Mreow that's right!!!" </p><p>"Alright, let's show the world what the Phantom Thieves are truly made of!" And so, the whole group threw the hand they had placed up in the air while letting out a loud <strong><em>YEAH!!</em></strong>. "It's a unanimous decision then people."</p><p>"We'll need an incredibly crafted plan if we want this to work and avoid the trap." Morgana spoke the purest truth; they still had to deal with that.</p><p>"What will we do in regard to Crow? She will not be pleased with what we decided." Yusuke added, to which Ren placed his chin between his index and thumb to think.</p><p>"If that bitch dares to attack us, then we'll fight back and beat the hell out of her!!" Ryuji there his fisted hand to a side.</p><p>"R-Ryuji, that's not a good idea at all!" Futaba countered, with all the gazes except for Ren's, focusing on her. "I told you guys at the Palace, her power level is insane! She's at least two times stronger than us in our current strength, and aside of Morgana and Haru, the rest of us haven't even witnessed the reach of her battle skills or her persona abilities!"</p><p>"I don't think we'll have to fight her. Up to this point, she hasn't threaten us or tried to harm us in any way. We could just... talk it out?" The other team members turned to look at their leader with their eyes widely opened as if the poor raven had grown a pair of globin ears or something. That idea was just as crazy as Ryuji's idea, but then again, how do you beat someone who you know is that much stronger than you and you haven't seen them battle? Easy, talking. "I mean, think about it. Even if she yelled at us, she didn't want to hurt us at all, not even Ryuji when she went up to him. There's a pretty big chance that she will answer to us without attacking."</p><p>"I don't know about that Ren... What do we do if she  attacks us when we try to talk to her?" Makoto seemed visibly worried about the situation.</p><p>"It won't make any difference. If we proceed forward into the Palace without facing her first, she could easily chase us and ambush us. Like we saw, Futaba's persona wasn't able to detect her once she went into the shadows, meaning she has some trick under her sleeve." Yusuke reminded the team of that moment.</p><p>"True! How can she do that anyway?! That was so sick..." Ann spoke up.</p><p>"Not to mention she can move fast enough for us to not even notice her moving at all. You all saw how she moved to three different places like a ninja!" Added Morgana with a glimpse of amazement in his voice; who could judge him for that though? That was indeed kind of cool.</p><p>"Even with all her tricks and strength, if she tries to fight us, we'll figure something out." Ren gave these words with the intention of reassuring his friends, which did work a little. The group went silent for a moment until...</p><p>"We should do it." Haru spoke up, causing all the gazes to fall onto her. "I... I have some things I would like to ask Crow myself, and I want to see if she's willing to answer them or not. So, I think that our best choice is to try and talk with her." </p><p>Ren nodded and gave the whole group a big smile. "Alright, it's decided. Let's go, guys."</p><p>Futaba glanced up to the little, visibly nervous. "W-What...?! Y-You mean right now?!"</p><p>"Yes, the earlier we solve this issue the better. So let's do it!" Ren gave Futaba a thumb up, which managed to ease her a little. The rest of the team was indeed nervous about meeting Crow again, but they agreed that it was better to see her sooner than later. And so, the Phantom Thieves went to Okumura's Palace to find their mysterious dark knight.</p>
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<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Start of an Alliance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'M NOT DEAD I SWEAR! I know I took quite some time, but I'm done with the new chapter and I hope you all like it! Make sure to check Aiyumi's original material as well btw ^^</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" Crow was very lucky to be alone in the Palace when she screamed and threw one of the Safe Room's chairs from one side of the room to the other. The day had gone normally, and she had no more duties aside of some homework so as soon as she found some free time, she decided to go to Okumura's Palace to see if the Thieves were there. But when she realized that they weren't there at the moment, the black masked girl thought it would be a good time for her to spit out some of her frustration. "HOW CAN THIS BE?!"</p><p>Truth be told, she did have a reason to act the way she was, but for her masks Robin Hood and Loki, she was taking it too much to the extreme. This reason though wasn't the Phantom Thieves leader's identity; after all, hadn't she already suspected that Ren Amamiya was a member of the Phantom Thieves all along? Well yeah, in fact she wasn't even surprised about the fact that HE was the leader of the boy band. It didn't take too much time to find behind the Phantom Thieves' leader mask the raven she had grown fond with sometime ago; the messed frizzy hair he never fixed, those gray eyes in which he kept that sharp analytic gaze she had seen so many times before, that smug and cocky but also composed and cold attitude. There was no other person more fitting for the job than him.</p><p>So, if Ren's identity as the leader didn't surprise her, what was it that had her so nervous and frustrated? It wasn't that the rest of the teammates were difficult for her to recognize, she had seen them hanging out before in the outside world after all; Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki, a former track team member and a part-time model, both victims of the former Olympic Medalist and P.E teacher Suguru Kamoshida. Yusuke Kitagawa, a prodigy of fine arts, straving artist that was once under the guardianship of the 'artist' Ichirusai Madarame. The sister of the public prosecutor, Sae Niijima, and student council president at Shujin Academy, Makoto Niijima. The supernatural creature known as Morgana, and the mysterious new addition to the team that she hadn't seen in the outside but who at least she knew as Beauty Thief. All of these were fine, even Beauty Thief who she had no information in, but there was one of the members which made her want to vomit, not out of disgust but out of the huge shame and guilt that had been hunting her for the past two years.</p><p><em>The young child of the now in God's glory Wakaba Isshiki and adoptive daughter of Sojiro Sakura, Futaba Sakura. </em>Robin Hood did the dirty work of speaking her name out loud; yes, she was the one. God, she couldn't even look at her straightly because her throat would break and the air wouldn't manage to get to her lungs. "I can't even believe this!!! How?! Why?! God. Fucking. DAMMIT!!!!!!" Crow slammed her fists hardly against the Safe Room's center table, a part of her wishing that it wouldn't break. The universe decided that it was time to finally laugh at her, and it did in the most twisted way possible by making Futaba Sakura a Phantom Thief. How hilarious was that? The child of Wakaba Isshiki, the researcher of the cognitive world for excellence, had become part of the team she had once planned to set up and had probably become one of their members to get back at her because of what she had done to her mother. <em>Can this get any worse...?</em></p><p><em>I think you need to calm down, young one. You had your outburst and that's perfectly understandable, but if you are planning to aid the Phantom Thieves you must keep a cold head to it all.</em> The god of mischief Loki gave her a really wise advice. Crow was actually surprised by how the darkest side of her personality had tried to calm her down, being Robin the one that took that job most of the time. But he was right, nevertheless, so she took in a deep breath to then sigh it all out. "I know I have to remain calm, it's just..." <em>It hurts, a lot</em>. It pained her to even look at the young girl she stole her mother from, and she couldn't even imagine how much it hurt Futaba to even have to look at her knowing she was the one who put her through such hell. Crow was utterly... scared. Of that tiny girl, of the only member of the Thieves who doesn't fight in battle, of that girl who is no more than two years younger than her. </p><p><em>Both I and my mischievous friend can feel the pain inside your heart m'lady, but you must remember what your objective is. Can you recall what was the reason that brought you here? Please, do not let the grasp of your new resolve to loosen up so easily, young one. </em>Robin Hood spoke softly, sending a gentle wave of warmth to Crow's heart that caused her to relax a little. "Yeah... I remember why I'm here. You're both right, I need to keep my mind cold to this." <em>Even if my heart feels like it could explode</em>. One last deep breath was all it took for Crow to abandon the Safe Room, in search for the Phantom Thieves.</p><p>She wandered around the Palace, looking out every last corner of every room she had gained access to, but there was no one else besides her and the shadows who were guarding the spaceship. Finally, thinking that maybe the Thieves wouldn't come that day, the black masked girl decided to head back to the Palace's entrance and take her leave, but she found herself with a little surprise once she reached the entrance. The Phantom Thieves were all just entering into the Palace, startling a bit when they noticed Crow in front of them, nothing more than a meter away from the group. The black masked girl laughed before placing a hand on her hip, tilting it to a side. "Well well, if it isn't the boy band of thievery? I would say long time no see, but that would be just lying. I gotta say though, you made me wait quite a while, I was just about to leave since you weren't anywhere around." </p><p>"Oh? So you just came here to wait for us? What, were you here all day or something?" Joker asked Crow with a chuckle escaping his lips, in an attempt to see the reaction Crow would have towards his taunt. Much to his surprise, the black masked girl just shook her head.</p><p>"Do not misunderstand me, I came here some minutes ago because it matched perfectly with the times I've seen you in the Metaverse. With this in mind I settled a pattern to deduce the scheduling you have to enter the cognitive world and save me the problem of wandering around nonsensically." Crow spoke up with a rather neutral and passive tone, trying to show the Thieves that she wasn't going to jump at them like they probably thought.</p><p>"S-So you know w-which times of the day we come into the Metaverse...?" Oracle was the one to question the black masked girl, who hesitated for a second to just nod. "Well that's a relief..." The rest of the team was visibly uncomfortable with her knowing their time schedules, but they still didn't point it out; that wasn't the reason they were there.</p><p>"Alright, now we are here. Have you come to talk with us? Or were you waiting our arrival just so you could attack?" Asked Queen, the girl in the biker outfit and a sharp attitude, Makoto Niijima, who seemed to be on guard. Crow just shook her head once more to Queen's words.</p><p>"No, nothing of the sort. Honestly, a part of me hoped you wouldn't return here because it's dangerous for you to be here, but at the same time something told me that you would show up in the Palace anyway. So, I decided to come and wait for you to return so that we could continue our previous discussion." Crow answered to Queen's question, who didn't quite buy it and stayed on alert mode. </p><p>The one who did believe in her words was Joker, who was standing as if he was ready to fight, but raised an eyebrow at Crow's statement. "So you didn't come here to try and fight us?" Once Crow shook her head one more time, growing a bit tired of that action, the leader put his hands inside his trousers pockets with his posture visibly more relaxed. "Good, because we don't intend to do that either, we want to talk with you about some things. As you thought we would do, me and my team did some investigation to see if the statements you did during our last discussion were actually true." Joker pulled his hands back out and crossed his arms against his chest. "It didn't take us that much time to confirm that the rankings of the website being manipulated and the SIU director having a Palace were rightful statements and that you didn't try to deceive us. However, all this realization made our need for understanding grow stronger and we thought it would be appropiate to look for you and, as you just  said, resume our last conversation to clarify a few things."</p><p>Noir took a step forward while having her hand raised. "U-Um, forgive me for interrupting you Joker" The leader shook his head and signed with his hand for her to continue, to which Noir turned her sight towards Crow. "But there's something I would like to ask you, Crow. That is if you don't mind answering." She knew that if she pressed too much, Crow would probably feel uncomfortable and a conflict might start out of that, so she tried to be polite and gentle.</p><p>It was a wise decision, because Crow nodded at Noir without any sign of change in her mood. "Of course, I don't mind..." Her expression seemed conflicted beneath her mask. "Beauty Thief was it?" Asked the black masked girl with a frown.</p><p>"Oh no, that's no longer my code name." The fluffed haired girl shook her head and a little smile drew on her lips. "When I joined the Phantom Thieves, I decided to change it. From now on, you may call me Noir." <em>Jeez, did she really have to take all that time to explain something so simple? Then again, who am I to judge... </em>thought the brunette with an internal chuckle.</p><p>"Noir... Black in French. It's a lot shorter and simpler to say, I like it." Crow nodded and crossed her arms against her chest. "Well, what is it you wish to ask me, Noir?"</p><p>Noir seemed to hesitate for a moment, holding both of her hands above her chest with her lips quivering a little. Still, she managed to spoke up. "I-Is it true... that Okumura foods has been ordering mental shutdowns on its competitors so that its reputation grows bigger...?" This young girl seemed to be quite expectant for the answer, which gave Crow a hint on who it could be behind that mask.</p><p>"I'm afraid so, yes. President Okumura has been one of the people that have been making a large number of... requests for mental shutdowns." Crow tried to be soft towards the girl; even if she was a Phantom Thief, there was no need to spit it out with unnecessary coldness and if she was who Crow suspected, then it was better to be a bit nicer.</p><p>"I-I have one last question." Noir said, with hope that Crow wouldn't feel intimidated or threatened by her words. The black masked girl nodded, allowing her to continue. "If it's not too much trouble, do you mind telling me how it works? Does<strong> Fa</strong>-" <em>Ah, just the slip I need to confirm my suspicion.</em> Thought Crow, realizing the identity of the person behind the mask. Noir shook her head before rephrasing her question. "Does President Okumura speak directly to you or...?" Noir didn't speak another word, but it was enough for Crow to understand what she wanted to know.</p><p>"Oh no no, he doesn't communicate directly with me, and the process is a bit more complex than that. First, Okumura gets in contact with the higher ups, the top of the hierarchy in the whole organization, and requests a mental shutdown or psychotic breakdown on a specific target. Once he asks for the event, both the higher ups and the mastermind must consider how much benefit they can get out of the requested incident and if it proves to be a huge amount of benefit over a little amount of loss, then they tell me the target's name so that I can do my thing." Crow had no problem on explaining Haru Okumura, the daughter of President Okumura and heiress of Okumura Foods, how the request system worked. She had the right to know the functioning of the system her father had gotten himself into.</p><p>Joker was paying a lot of attention when Crow explained how the request system worked; it was a perfect chance to understand how their enemies chose their victims. "So the mastermind and the higher ups are the ones who filter the demands that you'll be fulfilling. With that in mind, it's logical to assume that you're as well acting under specific deadlines. What's the case with Okumura?" Boy, Joker really didn't play around when it came to business. He knew exactly which questions to ask and his deductions were incredibly accurate.</p><p>"Yes, you guessed correctly, leader. On normal circumstances I would have a deadline for me to take action, but Okumura's case is an exception, since my order is to wait until the Phantom Thieves send the calling card to Okumura for me to strike him down." Luckily for both her and the Thieves, Shido wasn't giving any signs of pressuring her to cause the shutdown, so the boy band had a big chance to just back down on the matter. </p><p>"Ah... I see. Thank you very much for explaining and answering my doubts, Crow." Noir bowed just a bit to Crow and stood back straight with a conflicted look in her eyes. "But... I still don't understand what reasons you may have to do all this. Why would you come to us and tell us all the things you've told us? Why are you doing this?"</p><p>"Oh, I thought it would be obvious by now, but it's fine." Crow placed a hand on her hip, tilting it to a side. "I've decided to betray the organization and its members."</p><p>The whole group of teenagers was surprised, to say the very least. The one causing the mental shutdowns was just... quitting? She was going to go against the same people she warned the Thieves about? This was too incomplete for them to understand, and Noir was the first to start up the question line. "Betraying them...? Why? I mean, you already explained how dangerous this people are, so why would you turn against them?"</p><p>"Simple really, I'm done with all this." Crow stared down at the floor, with a glimpse of shame in her eyes, though the Thieves couldn't quite notice it beneath the red lenses of her mask. Her past self wouldn't be ashamed a single bit of all the things she had done for the sake of her revenge, but now she did. She CARED and wanted to amend for her mistakes.</p><p>"... You told us that the mastermind chooses his subordinates based on the usefulness that they grant him in his goals." Spoke Joker, breaking the short silence that had formed after Crow's words. "I also recall you mentioning that he squeezed out every last bit of use his pawns had for him until he got rid of them for good... And if we speak in technical way, that means he'll want to get rid of you as well, am I right?"</p><p>The black masked girl sarcastically snapped her fingers and pointed her index towards Joker. "Bingo, give the man a prize!" Crow then crossed  her arms against her chest, with clear annoyance that was visible even with the mask that hid her face so well. "I'm not the exception to this rule, he'll eventually get the last use out of me to then dispose of me, since I have quite a lot of knowledge about him that would put him in a complicated spot. But..." Crow's voice went silent all of the sudden, making the team curious of what she was about to say. "I never really cared about it. I started this job knowing that one day I would get disposed of like some kind of tool with no further use, and I didn't mind it. I... Didn't have that much in my life to begin with. Of the little I had I lost half of it through my life and threw the other half to trash without any hesitation when I decided to follow this path, so I don't really have anything more to live for. However" Crow uncrossed her arms and made a tight fist with her left hand in front of her. "I can't just wait for the day of my death with all the things I know about this whole mess! A big part of this chaos was done by me, and it can't really be undone. But that doesn't mean I have the right to just back out and not do anything, so I intend to expose the organization and destroy it from the inside."</p><p>The team was very impressed when they heard such passion and determination from this girl who was supposed to be one of her enemies. Joker could feel that strange connection with her, as if he understood the need she had and wanted to help her fulfill that goal. It was still very confusing to him why he felt like this with Crow; they had just met her a few days ago, and yet he still felt this particular empathy towards her. It was very strange...</p><p>"So basically all this rebellious attitude comes out of your own desperation?" Asked the man with a fox-like mask, who Crow knew was Yusuke Kitagawa.</p><p>Crow chuckled a little at Fox's question who seemed to be more rhetorical than anything. "You could say that." Was all she answered, keeping it short and a bit ambiguous, much to Fox's frustration.</p><p>Joker crossed his arms while pressing his chin against his right index and thumb, as if he was in some deep thought. "It's still hard to believe someone would willingly throw themselves onto a situation this cruel and twisted. How did you even manage to get involved with the organization in the first place?" </p><p>Dammit, he's at it again, being that sharp bastard he has been since the moment she very first met him. Did he have some kind of power that made him know what kind of hard questions to do? Or was he just that sharp when it came to his Phantom Thief business? Yeah, it was probably that; he was already sharp enough outside of the Metaverse, so she couldn't, and mostly shouldn't, doubt the fact he would be like this as the leader of the Phantom Thieves.</p><p>"Well it's a very long story, but'll try to keep it as short as possible." The tone of Crow's voice became somewhat melancholic, and even her hands were somewhat shaking when she crossed her arms. "It all started when I was very young, when I first started to have this need for vengeance. My life was turned into hell on Earth thanks to a certain man, who doesn't even know about all the things I had to go through because of him and who wouldn't even care about it either if he ever found out. I..." the claws of her right gauntlet started to dug into the clothing of her left arm. "Resented him. I wanted to make him suffer the same hell I had to go through thanks to him, and to achieve this I started to look for him all around the country. One day, I found him and what his goal was, which I thought would give me the perfect chance to get back at him. I thought that if I could ally with him and earn his trust by helping him to reach his objective, I could stick up with him until he reached the top and, one day in the future, shove him out of his mountain ruining everything he had fought for." </p><p>"Yeah uhhhh that's actually pretty twisted, even for someone like you." Skull stated while rubbing the back of his head rapidly. The group was afraid that Skull's statement would make Crow lose it and attack them.</p><p>But that didn't happen; instead, Crow started to laugh at his comment, causing the whole group to be taken aback. "I know right?! To be honest, the more I think about it, the more stupid and ridiculous it sounds!" The black masked girl chuckled beneath her mask. "Although, back then, when I was at the apex of my anger and hate towards that man, this plan seemed perfect and flawless to my eyes. But even if I thought to me it was the perfect revenge, there was no means to actually reach him, since he had gained quite a lot of power when I found him, and I was a nobody with no way of getting his attention. And then..." Crow went silent for about five seconds or so until she continued. "One day, when I was finally ready to quit my goal, I heard this strange voice; whatever it was, be it God or a Demon, it granted me the power of Persona and access to the cognitive world, giving me a real chance to chase after my objective." </p><p>"Woah woah, hold up for a second." Joker spoke before Crow was able to continue, holding his palms in front of him pointing at Crow with them. "I'm sorry for interrupting like this, but someone GAVE you your powers? You didn't awaken to them on your own?"</p><p>"Yeah, that's somethin' pretty weird. All of us had to go through that awakening shit in order to have our Personas, so it's kinda hard to think someone would give it to ya." Skull followed his leader's words, and he did have a point on that. Not even Crow herself understood how she gained her powers to begin with.</p><p>"And a voice? Do you know who it belonged to?" Asked Queen, obviously the wariest way possible. Out of the eight members, she seemed to be the most wary of her, even when the rest weren't precisely comfortable with having Crow around either.</p><p>"No, I really don't know who the owner was, I just heard this voice and I thought I was already going crazy." Crow sighed heavily, visibly bothered by the thought of that moment. "All it did was fill my ears with sweet words, telling me that I was far stronger than many of my kind and that I was more special than I could ever imagine. That I was... Destined to do great things in the future." Suddenly, Crow's lips curled into a sad smile. "Hell I was easy to toy with. I mean, what's better to have someone who's totally lost with no way ahead of them under your thumb than telling them they're special? Anyway, this mysterious entity was the one who gave me access to the Metaverse and granted me the power of Persona. And boy, when I first felt this huge power..." Crow stared at her hands that were making tight fists. "I laughed. I don't remember for how long, but I'm sure it was quite some time, because I felt in a way I had never experienced before. I felt... Powerful." Her hands relaxed and stopped making fists before she placed one of them on her hip. "Once I was somewhat familiarized with the Metaverse, the voice told me that the person I was hunting down was interested in the cognitive world thanks to a peculiar research, and that if I wanted to carry out my plan then all I had to do was approach him and tell him that I had access to the Metaverse. And so I did it; I went to that man and told him that I could enter the cognitive world on my own..." Crow looked at Joker who had an unreadable expression, but she felt like he started to connect the dots on the matter. "By the look on your face, leader, I would say that you already guessed who this man is."</p><p>Before Joker could answer to her question, he noticed that Queen's eyes had widened up quite a bunch; she must have connected the dots as well. "Yes. Your target is... the mastermind himself. Last time we were here, you told us that the mastermind had planned to use the Metaverse to his advantage and that he stole the research from Wakaba Isshiki, so that means he must be the person you've been after."</p><p>"Precisely. Two years ago I first approached the mastermind and somehow he believed me on being able to travel into the Metaverse, putting me as one of the few people that could have direct contact with him. When I least realized it, I was following each of the orders he gave me." Crow went silent while staring at Oracle, action that startled the Navi of the group. Was she being scary? If so, it wasn't her intention. There was no malice in her eyes after all; just guilt and sadness, that was replaced with coldness once she continued. "Thanks to the research he stole from Wakaba Isshiki, the mastermind learned that when you kill a shadow in the Metaverse, its counterpart in the real world suffers a mental shutdown. With that knowledge and thanks to the fact that I was the one with access to the cognitive world, he told me to force... more mental shutdowns on people that 'were in his way'. At first, I didn't want to, but my plans for revenge won over my reasoning, and so I did it again and again and again and again..." Crow felt a knot form on her stomach that threatened to turn into actual vomiting. "I tried to justify it; every single night after a job, after waking up screaming thanks to a nightmare, I told myself the same things over and over to justify all of it. 'How can anyone ever catch me if I have the power and they don't? And if they do, what the hell is left for me aside of death?'" Crow started to growl intensely, not to the group but to herself. "I knew it was all wrong, that I shouldn't be doing any of those things, but I was too blinded by all that revenge bullshit." </p><p>Silence. There was nothing else in the air, aside of that sharp silence that had formed between Crow and the Phantom Thieves. Most of the Thieves were just staring at the black masked girl, who seemed at the edge of breaking due to the guilt and shame she was carrying on her shoulders. Even if they all knew she caused the mental shutdowns, it was still very sad to see her like that.</p><p>"I... This is awful to hear." Queen spoke up what everyone was thinking. "But I still don't understand... If the organization as powerful as you say, how do you even plan to bring it down? Just, how?"</p><p>The silence returned for a few seconds, before Crow chuckled and a big smile appeared on her lips. "I believe you already know the answer to that, my dear Phantom Thieves of Hearts! I will make the mastermind confess his crimes with his own mouth!"</p><p>Almost the whole group gasped... Except for one. Joker. The leader's lips curled up into a grin while looking directly at Crow. "Haaaa, now isn't this interesting~? So you're planning on changing his heart." </p><p>"As I should've done from the start. I've been turning a blind to all of this shit for far too long, so now I'll stop sitting on my ass and do something to put an end to it." Crow crossed her arms against her chest while the Phantom Thieves could just stare in surprise.</p><p>"D-Does that mean you already have his name and keywords to enter the Palace...?!" Asked Oracle with a somewhat shaky voice before receiving a firm nod from Crow.</p><p>"I've had them for quite a while now, and I even managed to take some peeks inside it." Crow responded, her smile didn't abandon her lips yet. The rest of the Phantom Thieves seemed to slowly gain some courage.</p><p>"That's a great idea Crow! If you bring that bastard down, then the whole organization will go down with him as well!" Panther spoke up enthusiastically; it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but this much enthusiasm was overwhelming for Crow.</p><p>"It won't be as direct as you describe it, but there's no better way to take down a pyramid than destroying its bases. If the mastermind confesses his crimes, it will leave room for the police to start up a real investigation against him and the rest of the organization members." Crow chuckled. "It will be the first step to bring all of this conspiracy to an end."</p><p>"Hell yeah!!!" Skull yelled, throwing a fist to a side, eager at the thought of targeting such a big fish. "Tell us his name and keywords, so that we take down that crooked asshole!! It'll be our biggest shot so far!!" The boy practically demanded Crow to tell him the access words for the Palace.</p><p>Crow patted a little on the low side of her helmet with the tip of her index finger, simulating to tap on her chin. "Mmmmm, let me think about it..." Suddenly, the black masked girl shook her head. "Nope, don't count on it." </p><p>"HUH?!" Skull was taken aback with Crow's rejection and glared intensely to her. "Why not?! We've taken down a lot of bunch of these assholes, so we can totally do it!!" Crow only sighed heavily to Skull's outburst.</p><p>"Jeez, cool down would you? The problem lies in something you just said Skull and that you were actually right. He'd be the biggest target you've ever encounter which precisely makes him the most dangerous one." Crow spoke to Skull in a calm neutral tone, trying to not provoke him. "The issue is that, in your current strength, the mastermind palace's security measures would completely destroy you before you could reach the first quarter of it. Do not forget that this man not only knows about the existence of the cognitive world but also has his hands on a full research about it; it's like a kid inside of a candy store! I was inside the Palace a few times, and I've seen a lot of things; it's a festival of security dogs, labyrinthine corridors and even high ranked guards with automatic guns. That and the fact that you've been at this Metaverse deal too little in comparison to me. Do not get me wrong though, even I, with two years of experience, would have a lot of trouble to course through that Palace's security systems. I wo-" Crow wasn't able to continue with her explanation because she was interrupted by a jumpy voice.</p><p>"H-Hey! Crow! Answer me something!" Crow turned her sight towards the owner of that voice, who was no other than Oracle herself. She seemed to struggle quite a bunch to speak her question. "W-Why... Why would the mastermind steal the cognitive research?!" </p><p><em>Because he is a dick that has done nothing else aside of stealing precious things from others, just like he made me steal your mother away from you. </em>Crow frowned a little. "He didn't want the research to go public. His objective was to acquire the Metaverse research in order to use it for his personal gain, and if the investigation was presented to the public, then other people would find out about the Metaverse's existence. If he managed to hold it from becoming public, then he could use it as much as he wanted without anyone finding out the methods behind his success." A sudden awkward silence filled the room, which was broken a few seconds later by Crow herself. "Uhm, speaking of methods, how is it that you guys manage to do it? Like, the heart changing thing."</p><p>"Oh? What do you mean...? Don't you know how to change hearts?" Mona asked, genuinely surprised.</p><p>"But haven't you been at this for more than us? How is it that you don't know about the heart changing mechanic if you've been in the Metaverse many more times than us?" Asked Panther with a glimpse of curiousity in her voice.</p><p>"Ahhhh, seems like those two years of experience are not that big of a deal after all." Skull was directly taunting her, but the black masked woman didn't fall for it... at least, she wouldn't do so at that moment when she needed to be calm.</p><p>"Well... No, I honestly don't know." Crow averted her eyes to a side, seemingly embarrassed about her ignorance. "All the things I've learned so far has been through trial and error, since I didn't know anything at first. With time, I found out some things, but I never figured a way to 'change a person's heart.'" </p><p>Oracle tilted her head to a side, still a bit shaky about Crow's presence. "B-But what about the research...? I mean, d-didn't you fully read it when you got it...?" Crow's response was a shake of her head.</p><p>"No, I didn't. I just had access to a few pieces of the original research and that was pretty much it. The rest I learned it all by experimenting in the Metaverse." Crow stated.</p><p>Joker pressed his chin against his right thumb and index, wearing a conflicted frown under his mask. "But I don't get it. You're the one with access to the cognitive world, and yet you weren't granted permission to read the full reseach?"</p><p>Crow crossed her arms against her chest, closing her eyes as if she was trying to recall the reason properly. "Mmmm... I just remember reading the pieces the mastermind chose for me to have access to. Maybe he thought it based on what seemed to be more convenient for-...." Crow went suddenly silent for a large period of time, causing the whole group to get worried.</p><p>"U-Uhm Crow...?" Noir was the only one that managed to call out for her, but getting no answer at all. She was just there, staring at the ground.</p><p><br/>
"...Heh... Hehehehehe. I'm on a whole other level of stupidity. Of course he wouldn't show me the full research. How could I not realize it before? He must have been afraid of me knowing too much about it and finding a way to take him down from inside the Metaverse. Hehehe Hahahaahahahaha!" Crow's laughter progressively increased while her eyes started to widen up behind her mask. Did she even notice the presence of the Thieves anymore? "How could I not see it before?! All my plan was destined to fail from the very begining!! He didn't trust me as much as I thought he did!! PERHAPS HE NEVER TRUSTED ME AT ALL TO BEGIN WITH!!  CAN I BE ANY MORE STUPID?!! HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THE ONLY PURPOSE THAT KEPT ME MOVING ON IN LIFE WAS NOTHING MORE THAN A PATHETIC DISGUSTING JOKE, HOW FUNNY IS THAT?! IT'S SO DUMB THAT I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING!!! <strong>HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA</strong>!!!" Crow laughter had become one worthy of a maniac like Light Yagami or Shion Sonozaki. Both of her hands were pressing tightly against her black mask as her laughter grew louder and louder, with two tear paths appearing on her cheeks. "<strong>ALL THESE YEARS, HA, DOING SUCH AWFUL THINGS, HAHA</strong>" She was practically choking in her mixture of laughter and cry. "<strong>AND IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING!!  BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA</strong>!!!" And so, the laughter kept on with no sign of stopping.</p><p>                                    --------------</p><p>The young team of justice couldn't do anything more than stare at the woman in front of them, laughing maniacally while crying her eyes off beneath her black mask. Could someone really make so wrong decisions in their life to end up becoming this crazy? How could someone live any life at all with the weight of those awful emotions on their shoulders? By that moment, Crow wasn't even aware of her surroundings, only focused on the fact that her only reason to live was nothing but a joke. </p><p>As for the leader, he was the one most affected by this view. Since Joker felt this strange connection to Crow, the sight of her thinking that all her path in life was nothing but meaningless made his heart ache quite a lot. Was it weird? He didn't quite know, but he just felt like that. Yes, Crow was a horrible person, yes she had taken away people's lives and families, yes she was supposed to be their enemy. But right now she just seemed so... lost and regretful. With a few seconds of watching this scene, Joker realized that the guilt Crow carried in her conscience was practically devouring her alive and that her outburst was a proof of it. In the leader's eyes, she was acting no different from a person who had a change of heart. But how could someone like her manage to grow a conscious of her own about her mistakes all on her own? It was such a mystery, but Joker respected Crow for this; with all the things she had done, for her to understand she was in a wrong path and wishing to change the course of her actions, was something incredible to accomplish. </p><p>The one to break the silence of the team, that was filled with the loud laughter coming from Crow, was Oracle. The Navi of the group swallowed some saliva with her hands shaking a little. "It seems she broke... What do we do...?" </p><p>Crow's outburst reached a point in which she dropped to her knees holding her helmet tightly. The black masked woman seemed to break more and more with each second that passed by and with every new mistake she recognized. For a moment, Joker felt his hand escaping his side and attempting to reach out for Crow, but he stopped it when he noticed. He felt powerless, miserable, thanks to his empathy towards Crow increasing exponentially.</p><p>"Guys, I think we should go and talk about this somewhere more..." Queen spoke with a low voice as she looked at the laughing woman with a certain unease. "Quiet. She doesn't seem to be mentally stable and if she loses it even more, there's a chance she could attack us. If my memory doesn't fail me, there's a safe room nearby." </p><p>"Yeah..." Noir agreed with the second in command. "Crow seems like she needs a moment or two to cool down, so we better leave her alone for now..." The rest of the group nodded and they started to walk out of the room they were in, with the exception of Joker who just stood there, staring at Crow.</p><p>Morgana felt concerned about his leader's behavior. What was wrong with him? The cat creature approached his lea... his friend and patted on his leg with one of his paws. "Hey, Joker, are youu okay? We're going to the safe room now, shouldn't you come with us?" Asked Morgana, managing to pull Joker out of his spacing out.</p><p>"Uh, yeah... Let's go." With these words, Joker went to follow the rest of the group to the safe room, leaving Crow alone in her maniac outburst. </p><p>When the Thieves arrived to the safe room, all of them were quiet. None of them said a single word, since most were not only astonished but also speechless with what they heard and saw. Some would just look at each other for a few instants before turning their sights to another direction, while others didn't even bother to lift their gazes up.</p><p>"Yo, guys..." Skull was the first to speak up after minutes of silence. "This Crow girl is a shitty person, she has done such messed up things and I know she doesn't deserve it, but I can't help but feel... bad for her, y'know?" Skull had this glimpse of sadness in his eyes and his voice wasn't as loud as always. "I mean... Back with Kamoshida we... Ugh, this is so fucking hard." He said rubbing the back of his head rapidly.</p><p>"Don't Ryuji, I get what you're trying to say." Morgana was the one to follow Ryuji's train of thought. "During our first strike as Phantom Thieves, you guys were decided to change Kamoshida's heart until I spoke the chance of him getting a mental shutdown." Morgana's ears fell onto the back of his head. "I mocked you for chickening out and... I said that even if Kamoshida did suffer a shutdown, people would never find out who the culprit was." His eyes became very sad. "How could I ever consider that...? I can't believe I was so stupid and insensitive." </p><p>"That may be true to a certain extent Mona" Joker stated, causing Morgana's ears to perk back up as he looked at the leader. "But even so, you were the one who pulled us back when we had other intentions besides making him confess. Ryuji, Ann and I were so infuriated with what happened to Suzui-san that we were more tempted to beat him up instead of changing his heart. If you hadn't been there with us at that moment when we gained this incredible power, we would have easily succumbed to the temptation. We would have acted like Crow and kill Kamoshida." The leader had his arms crossed against his chest while looking down at the floor as he spoke.</p><p>"He... He's right about that." Panther admitted with guilt in her voice. "After I saw Shiho jump from that rooftop, I became so filled with anger that the moment I had Kamoshida's shadow acting so weakly and desperate, the idea of killing him invaded my mind even more. I may have not done it, but without you there Mona... I can't say things would've turn out the way they did." Panther gave Morgana a little smile before gently petting his head.</p><p>"I believe you understimated the relevance you have on this team, Mona-chan." Noir squatted down for her face to be at Mona's level and patted on his head as well, with a big smile on her face that caused the cat creature's face to flush up in a shade of red due to his embarrassment. "You're our friend and if you see this group as your family, then you have every right to stay by our side, even if you never remember who you truly are. You'll always be Mona-chan for us!"</p><p>"Awwwww, Mona looks like he wants to cry!" Oracle intervened at the moment, pinching hardly on Morgana's cheeks when she saw him sniffling a little. "Cute kitty don't get all teary on us~"</p><p>"I-I'm not getting teary! I just have something in my eye, now let me go you're hurting my beautiful face!" Morgana pushed Oracle's hands away from his face, causing the latter to giggle amusedly.</p><p>"But back to Crow..." Panther became serious again. "We can't deny the fact that she's a horrible person, but doesn't the mastermind sound even worse? I mean, he didn't want to get his hands dirty, so he had Crow kill his targets for him, and he made carry with every death on her shoulders." </p><p>"Panther is right." Queen agreed with the blonde thief while sighing heavily. "The fact that there was someone manipulating the strings behind all this doesn't exempt Crow for all the crimes she has committed. But even so..." </p><p>"Crow looks to be really ashamed." Noir followed up Queen's words, standing back up straightly. "It almost seems like the guilt of all her past actions is destroying her, and that she is truly looking for a way to amend for her mistakes."</p><p>"Even if I don't like her at all, what Noir says is true. However the most impressive thing about this..." All the group turned to Morgana when he went quiet. "Is that her heart was highly distorted and that she actually managed to overcome the distortions of her heart all on her own. To be honest, I believe she deserves some credit for being able to do something so hard all by herself, without any exterior help."</p><p>"Not only that, but her story was quite baleful. It was honestly very sad to hear it and the worst part is..." Fox closed his eyes with a frown on his face. "That I may have walked down the same path with Madarame under different circumstances. You all came into my rescue and if it hadn't been for you supporting me and guiding me along the way, I may have ended coursing into the same darkness as Crow."</p><p>"I honestly felt very bad for Crow." Oracle stated, much for the group's surprise who turned all their gazes towards the Navi. "I know she's the one who killed my mother and that she helped to steal her research, but after all the things she told us? I don't know what to think... But I still can't help but feel bad for her." </p><p>"If I have to be honest with you guys, the outburst she had in front of us got me very worried." Joker expressed his thoughts as well. "I'm afraid Queen might be right about Crow not being mentally stable. Not only that, but she intends to change the heart of the mastermind all on her own as well, which only makes my concerns grow bigger. All this situation is too much for her to handle and if she keeps pushing herself more to the edge, she might break completely beyond repair."</p><p>"We should keep an eye on her so that we make sure she doesn't take any drastic actions." Fox completed Joker's thoughts and the whole group nodded, confirming the unanimous decision. As soon as the matter was settled, the Thieves abandoned the Safe Room to return to Crow.</p><p>                                      -------------</p><p>It's not that she wanted to laugh intently, it just came out on its own, but she couldn't feel bad about doing so either. Through her whole life, the burning fire of revenge had been the only source of energy to keep moving forward, even after the guilt caused by the despicable acts she had to commit for the sake of it. But when she understood that her once only purpose in life was destined to fail from the start, the laughter was the most healthy way, at least for her standards of healthiness, to spit out all her frustration and anger towards her situation. </p><p>She felt stupid. Stupid for ever thinking she could get back to a man with such influence, power and most importantly, paranoia like Shido. Stupid for taking away so much from others, even peoples lives, for a reason that was nothing but empty from the very beginning. Stupid for being naïve enough to be manipulated under someone's thumb while thinking she was the one in control. Was there any possibility for someone to be so blind against something so obvious? Well apparently she was like that, because Shido had given the clear signs and, she never got them, all because of her own stupidity.</p><p>Crow pulled up her black mask and passed her sleeve through her face, wiping away all her tears while her laughter was replaced by a soft and sad giggling. The girl tried to be positive about it, thinking that she had finally talked to other people about her predicament, even if said people were the exact same group who she once had planned to trick and would probably hate her for it. But didn't the Thieves had enough reason already to hate her? She was the one who caused the chaos that had been driving Japan towards the ruin that would be having Shido as prime minister, not to mention she'd been taking other people's lives in the process. Wasn't that enough to despise her and abhor her mere presence? Nevertheless, blurting all her feelings out to the Thieves managed to make her feel slightly better. </p><p>Speaking of the boy band, they weren't in the room with Crow. Had they left? Crow hadn't realized their absence, since she was too focused on her outburst, but at least she was glad they didn't stay to keep watching her being miserable. After a few seconds, the Thieves reappeared.</p><p>"Hey, how are you feeling Crow?" Joker asked with a glimpse of concern as soon as he saw her. "You didn't seem to be... quite well back there..."</p><p>She just waved her hand while chuckling. "No need to sugarcoat it, just say that I completely lost it. I'm better now though, don't worry." The eyes of the persona user became sad behind her lenses. "I just hope that it served you as a proof of how much the Metaverse can fuck up a person's life..."</p><p>"Yeah..." Oracle nodded a little to Crow's statement, causing the latter to move her sight to the Navi. Although this time, unlike before, Oracle didn't seem scared or nervous about it; now, she just looked... hurt. Had she triggered more memories about her mother? After a few instants of looking at her, Crow turned her sight to the leader.</p><p>"This is why I'm asking you to disband. The danger you'll encounter if you continue on with your objective will be too much for you to handle, so the best thing for you to do is-" Crow cut her own self off when she saw Joker shaking his head.</p><p>"I'm sorry Crow, but we've made our decision, and it's to not back down on this. If the law system is as corrupted as you've described it, then as Phantom Thieves we can't just ignore it; we'll do something about it." The leader spoke firmly, with all the other members behind him nodding.</p><p>Crow stayed quite for a couple of seconds when she heard Joker's statement. "...What? You can't be serious..." Crow stared at Joker who just stared at her with his sharp and determined gaze. "Are you all out of you minds?! All the things I've told you, about the trap-"</p><p>"Oh yeah, well we'll figure out something for it. We won't just ignore your warning, we'll take it into account since all of that was true." Spoke quite nonchalantly, considering how gallant he had been so far, while nodding at Crow.</p><p>"How can you say that as if it was so god damn easy to do?!" Crow hadn't realized how her emotions started to slip out once more, causing her voice to rise up quite a bunch. "Don't you fucking realize the danger you're all in?! I'm sure most of you have people to meet once you go home, places you want to go visit, dreams to accomplish!! And you're going to willingly throw all of that to trash by risking your lives to correct a system that has always been a mess anyway?! How crazy must you be to not understand it?! Your whole futures will be lost if you keep this up, and you'll never get them back!!"</p><p>The leader took a step forward while throwing a fist to a side. "We know that already! We're all scared about loosing everything we have, but who the hell are we to just leave things like that? In fact, it's the whole opposite; because we actually can, we MUST do something about it. I know we may not have a chance to live on, but if we can do something about all this we will, because we believe we can make things better and that's what the Phantom Thieves are for! Bring changes that help other people!" </p><p>Crow was taken aback thanks to Joker's incredible determination. Her gaze fell to the ground with her hands curling into tight fists and gritting her teeth tightly. She searched for any possible argument to counter the leader's words, but she found none. "How... How can you be so selfless? This is just... frustrating. You're seriously beyond my comprehension..."</p><p>"It's not that we don't want to listen to you Crow... It's because that's just how we are." Joker motioned a hand towards his team. "Here where you see us, we were all once outcasts who never had a place to belong and that had been mistreated by society in many different ways. Labelled, manipulated, tricked. All of us were helpless and no one came to our rescue, so we became Phantom Thieves to make sure that no one else would have to suffer those things like we did. So even if the odds are against us, even if it seems like we are about to lose, even if there is the possibility of us never returning to our normal lives, we will still continue acting as Phantom Thieves. Because people deserve to have something they can put their faith in and realize that they're never alone."</p><p>These words made a memory trigger inside Crow's mind. She and Joker had a discussion in which they questioned if the Phantom Thieves were either trying to give people hope or just trying to make themselves popular, and in that conversation, Joker said that the Thieves were to him a light of hope to reform society and make the world a better place. Now that she saw him speaking this words not only as Ren Amamiya, the boy who got falsely accused for a crime he didn't commit, but also as Joker, leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Crow felt all the weight of his beliefs on her own back. Now she understood why he believed in the Thieves; it was his own way to show people that even in the rotten world they lived in, that there was still hope for something better. That not everything was lost, no matter how awful the situation may look like sometimes. </p><p>Joker out of all people knew exactly what it was like to have everything taken away from him, and he chose to become someone that could help other people that may be in a similar situation. The exact same opposite of Crow, who, in the same situation as Joker, just grew angrier and angrier towards society instead of trying to bring change to its structure. He truly was... an incredible human being. No, that was underestimating his true nature. He was directly a true hero of justice. The realization of the fact that him and his team wouldn't back out from it left her with only one thing to do...</p><p>"I see..." her voice became dark all of the sudden, which managed to surprise the whole group. A gentle chuckle escaped her lips and her lenses brightened up. "So this is how it is huh? Alright, then you leave me with no choice..."</p><p>"Huh?! The fuck you gonna do?!" Skull was the one to become defensive first and the rest of the group followed him up on that. The tension grew stronger between the Thieves and Crow as she took a few steps closer.</p><p><br/>
"If you will not do as I say, then I guess I'll..." The group became more tense when they heard her spoke less than two meters away from them. Suddenly, Crow's lips curled into a cheeky smile, aware of the fact she had scared the shit out of them. "I'll just have to come with you!" Spoke Crow with a little enthusiastic voice, probably just to mess around with the Thieves who were awaiting for her to attack them.</p><p>If that was indeed her objective though, she managed it with no problem, because her statement made the faces of the Thieves become filled with confusion. "...Eh?" Skull, who just managed to mutter, was the one who was the most confused out of the eight members.</p><p>"Well, if you're not going to back out of this then I have a little deal to propose to you." Crow placed both of her hands on her hips, tilting them to a side. "I'll help you find a way to avoid the trap that has been set for you and, in exchange for my assistance, you'll teach me the nature of your heart changing methods. What do you say?" </p><p>After a few seconds of just staring at Crow, the Thieves started giving looks at each other, as if they could understand what the other was thinking without the need to speak up. They started nodding one after another and Joker took a step forward giving the final nod. "Alright, we have a deal Crow. However, if I see any sign that indicates you're turning against us, I will take measures to it. Am I clear?"</p><p>To Crow this was somewhat funny; the original plan was to cause a mental shutdown on Okumura so that she would be able to blackmail the Phantom Thieves into targeting a random person. Once they were settled into the mission, she would bring the police near her when using the Metaverse app to bring them into the cognitive world and capture them in the middle of their act. Once, the idea of finally getting her hands on this group and taking them down made her feel an indescribable satisfaction, but now it just made her sick as hell. That didn't matter anymore though, since the circumstances were a whole different from before; now, she was determined to save the Thieves, no matter the cost that came with this.</p><p>"Of course, you can count on me." Crow nodded resolutely while giving a leader a little smile, to which he smiled back. </p><p>Suddenly, the whole world froze around Crow. Time didn't flow anymore and even Crow herself wasn't able to move at all. However, she did notice a strange card appearing just a few centimeters away from her as a feminine voice spoke up gently in the depths of Crow's mind.</p><p>
  <em>"I am thou, Thou art I..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Thou has adquired a new vow, the <strong>Phantom Thieves</strong> confidant. It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"With the birth of the <strong>Fool</strong> Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power..." </em>
</p><p>And just as it appeared, the mysterious card disappeared in thin air and time began to flow once. <em>What the hell?! The fuck was all that?! </em>Crow gaped for a moment, but the Thieves didn't seem to pay much attention to it. Did they not see what just happened? Crow decided not to speak about it and just brush it off for now.</p><p>"Well then, if you'll be working with us then I suppose it would be appropriate for us to introduce ourselves to you. I'm Fox, I'm looking forward to working along your side Crow." The fox-like masked boy finally gave his code name to Crow, bowing his head a little.</p><p>"Guess I gotta go next. I'm Skull! If you struggle even a bit in battle, be sure that'll be right behind to help ya, a'ight?" The skull-shape masked boy grinned while giving Crow the thumbs up.</p><p>"I'm Panther! I can't wait to battle with you; you can count on me if you need a hand!" The feline masked girl spoke enthusiastically with a big smile on her lips. </p><p>"I'm Queen and I'm the strategist of the group. I sincerely hope you do not feel uneasy with our team dynamic and that we get along just fine." The words came extremely dry out of the biker costumed girl, who had her arms crossed on her chest. Even if she tried to hide it, it was obvious that she wasn't quite pleased with Crow working with her.</p><p>"I-I'm... I'm Oracle. I don't have any fighting s-skills since my persona is purely support oriented. It's nice to have you aboard..." The goggled girl rubbed the back of her right hand with her left fingers, keeping her gaze on the ground. Her body language didn't seem to speak the same as her mouth.</p><p>"You obviously know me already, but I'm Mona. Don't try anything funny or, I'll claw you. By the way, don't ever call me cat because I'm not one, got it?!" The cat creature spoke while moving his paws a little, making emphasis on the 'not a cat' part of his introduction. </p><p>"We've met before as well, but I suppose there's no harm in introducing myself again. I'm Noir and I hope that we'll get along nicely, Crow. Feel reassured that I'll lend you my hand if you ever have trouble in battle." Noir gave Crow a smile and a gentle bow of her head.</p><p>"You may call me Joker. As you've pointed before, I'm the leader of the Phantom Thieves, and it will be my pleasure to fight by your side Crow. That being said, I hope you don't give me any reasons to make me regret trusting you." The leader kept it simple, giving Crow a tight smile.</p><p>After the Thieves introduced themselves properly, Skull spoke up. "Uhhhhh so Crow, I have a question, you mind?" Crow turned her sight specifically towards the vulgar thief while shaking her head, giving him permission to ask away. "A'ight so, how do you that shit of moving so quickly?! Like, yesterday you moved from one place to another like 'fichuuuuuu'!! Are you that fast?!" </p><p>"I-I have a similar doubt! Yesterday when we met you, you went into the shadows and suddenly disappeared. I couldn't find your signal with my persona and that never happened before with any shadow! How did you do that?!" Oracle gained enough courage to not stutter as much as she did before, which surprised the black masked woman.</p><p>"Oh? You mean..." Suddenly, Crow was no longer in spot she was supposed to be. When the Thieves searched for her with their gazes, they found her standing behind them waving a hand at them. "This? And..." Once more, Crow disappeared from the place she was standing at, except this time...</p><p>"G-Guys I lost her signal!!" Oracle stated while the rest of the group searched for her, until they saw her coming out from the shadows of a corner. </p><p>"This~?" Crow chuckled a little when she saw the Thieves widened eyes. "These are sort of... special skills I've gained thanks to a certain perception some organization members have about me." Crow leaned against a wall while crossing her arms on her chest. "When you guys enter the Metaverse and appear with your attire, that means you're seen ad a threat to the Palace ruler. You know that, right?" The group nodded and she continued. "Well, most of the Palace rulers who are aware of my existence don't just see me as a threat. They are <strong>afraid</strong> of me. Since they don't know my true identity, they aren't aware in which moments I'm in the room with them or not. This fear about me being around without them noticing causes them to craft this idea that I can move around with them and leaving them unable to do anything about it. This image they have of me grants me these two skills I've denominated "Blink" and "Camouflage". Blink could be considered a massive increase of my own speed, which serves me a lot when I need a quick escaping route and it serves a lot during battle. It's very effective since that increase makes me almost imperceptible when I move. On the other hand, Camouflage allows me to use the shadows to keep my presence hidden not only from the Palace Shadows but also from anything inside the ruler's Palace, which is the reason why Oracle wasn't able to detect me yesterday or just now when I hid. In addition to those two skills, this cognition of me grants me access to the highest ceiling structures of a Palace so that the shadows don't notice me; in fact, that's actually how I managed to follow you around without alerting you about my presence when you were wondering around Madarame's Palace."</p><p>"Wow... I gotta admit that's pretty fucking cool!" Skull stated with his eyes widely open at Crow's explanation.</p><p>"So the cognition of the palace owner influences on your movibilty throughout the Palace? Now that's high level stuff." Oracle nodded, a little less intimidated since she was more focused on understanding the functioning of Crow's abilities.</p><p>"I know they sound cool and all, but truth be told, they aren't as good as they appear to be at first glance." Crow frowned behind her mask. "You see, these skills are effective in Palaces that belong to people that have this particular conception of me, so for example, inside a Palace of a higher up of the organization, Blink and Camouflage wouldn't work at all since most of the high members of the organization know my identity and aren't afraid of me, they're just aware of the danger I represent. And without a grappling hook or something of the sort, I wouldn't be able to move on ceiling structures like I do in here."</p><p>"It's still pretty interesting, nevertheless. No wonder we weren't able to find you before we had Oracle join our team. However, Crow, I must ask you to avoid using these skills." Crow lifted her gaze towards Joker when she heard his words.</p><p>"I must agree with Joker. If you'll be coming with us, it would be best if you didn't use those abilities which are mostly oriented to a solo infiltration." Queen agreed almost instantly with Joker, to which Crow placed her gaze back on the ground.</p><p>"Mmmm... Alright, no problem." Crow moved her sight towards Joker and Queen, giving them a nod. "From now on, I'll move along with your group. But now that I've answered to your questions, I want to ask you something myself. How do you exactly change people's hearts?" </p><p>"Easy! By stealing their treasure!" Mona was the one to speak up the answer to Crow's question.</p><p>"Treasure you say? And what exactly is this 'treasure'?" Crow asked, standing up from the wall she was leaning against.</p><p>"A treasure is basically the manifestation of a Palace ruler's distorted desires, which are also the core of the Palace itself. Once we steal the treasure, the Palace disappears along with the distorted desires of the ruler itself, which triggers a change of heart in the counterpart of the real world."</p><p>"Mmmm? Now this sounds somewhat familiar..." Crow patted the low part of her beak helmet while she kept her eyes closed. When she recalled, her eyes went wide open. "Ah! I remember! Some time ago, I tried to dig up some more information about the cognitive world research to find and check the things the mastermind wasn't allowing me to see. During this investigation I managed to take a look at an old paper that belonged to the Metaverse researcher, although I didn't manage to read it completely. However, in the little I got to read, this paper mentioned something about a particular thing inside the Metaverse that was the source of a person's misbehavior and that once this object was gone, the misbehavior itself would stop as well. If I take a look at it closely, then this sounds a lot like the 'core' or 'treasure' you speak of."</p><p>"Y-Yeah, I've read that paper as well. It was part of the original sketch of the research, and it spoke of the core of a person's distortion, so you're right on connecting the dots like that." Oracle praised Crow a little.</p><p>"Now, this drives me to another doubt. How do you exactly find the treasure? During my infiltrations I've crossed myself with old weapons or some particular items for usage, but that's about it. I had to infiltrate many times to other organization members' palaces and during those times, I found diverse manifestations of their cognition, but there wasn't any in particular likely to be the Palace's core or to have such value and that could be removed from the cognitive world."</p><p>"Well, it's not as easy as finding the treasure and stealing it at the moment. We must cause it to materialize first before we intend to take it." Mona answered once more, but his expression was a bit more conflicted this time. "For now, we should focus on establishing an infiltration route so that we can reach the treasure without any issues when we decide to steal it."</p><p>"Alright, I'm gonna bust loose! Let's go and keep up with the infiltration!!" Skull spoke eagerly and with a lot of energy.</p><p>"You really intend on targeting Okumura no matter what huh..." Crow sighed and a little grin appeared on her lips. "Alright, but if we are going to do this we must do it in the most inconspucious way possible so that we don't draw too much attention. This means we should avoid all that flashy card business that you do when you do your heart changing."</p><p>"...What? You want us to steal Okumura's heart without a calling card?" Queen asked with her eyes widely open, as if Crow had grown a second head or something. </p><p>"Precisely, we can't afford to do something like that and draw the attention onto us." Crow stated, not caring about how the Thieves started to stare at her so incredulously.</p><p>"But Crow, what you're asking is impossible to do!" Mona countered with some surprise in his tone of voice. "We must send the calling card so that we make the Palace ruler aware that we're coming to steal their treasure, or it won't materialize at all!"</p><p>"Wait, what was that?" Crow couldn't help but widen her eyes at Mona's statement. "...So you're telling me that those calling cards aren't just for show? How does that even work?" </p><p>"In order to make a treasure materialize itself, we must change the cognition of the palace ruler so that they believe their distorted desires are in danger of being stolen from them. The cards have to be flashy, or they won't have enough impact on the target for their cognition to change!" As Mona explained the function of the calling cards, Crow's brows furrowed more and more.</p><p>"Alright now that just gives us more problems." Crow stated while tapping on the low part of her break helmet.</p><p>"Huh? What do you mean by that Crow?" Panther asked, speaking for everyone who were just as confused as her.</p><p>"Well, as you already know, the organization has moved a lot of strings in order to make Okumura your next big target. The problem about this is that the organization has already communicated with president Okumura about the state of the rankings of the website and convinced him that the Phantom Thieves are indeed a real threat. Thanks to their influence on him, Okumura has grown quite paranoid and accepted the indication of the higher ups to communicate any sign of 'suspicious activity' that arises in the following weeks. If we send a calling card then there's no doubt that he'll inform it to the police, which will act as a sign for the mastermind to... give the 'order' for 'you know what'" </p><p>Oh yeah, the mental shutdown meant for Noir's father. None of them wanted to even consider the possibility of Okumura suffering that part of the trap being Noir herself the most concerned one out of the whole gang of teenagers. </p><p>"Say Crow..." Panther was the one to break the sudden silence that had formed. "I want to believe that you won't do so, but if you're given the order, will you-"</p><p>"Hell no." Crow stated rather coldly, as if that idea wasn't even in consideration. "I sincerely don't want to follow that command and that's why I'm here with you, remember? I just wish there was a way to trick the mastermind into thinking that I did obey his order..." Crow sighed and shook her head. "Well truth be told, there's already one of his commands that I didn't fulfill. A few days ago, he asked me to get rid of someone who had grown to become a nuisance for him... this was Shujin Academy's Principal, Eiji Kobayakawa." </p><p>"What...?! I can't believe this!" Queen was taken aback and her eyes opened up widely while one of her hands was gently placed on her mouth. "So you're telling us that the Principal of Shujin is involved in this whole conspirancy mess as well?!"</p><p>"I'm afraid he is. In the past he did quite... dishonest things to get his current position. His actions weren't as bad as some others, but he didn't precisely get to where he is now with honest and clean methods. Principal Kobayakawa is what the mastermind and the rest of the organization in general calls a 'minor connection', and one day the mastermind reached the conclusion he wasn't necessary anymore, so he ordered me to get rid of him. However, his mental shutdown would be hidden from the media until Okumura's shutdown happened, and place a fake calling card in his office for it to seem like you were secretly targeting Kobayakawa, which would make you look even more guilty of the recent incidents."</p><p>"So the baddies were meaning to blame us for his death too?!" Skull asked incredulously, receiving a nod from Crow. The vulgar thief rubbed the back of his head rapidly. "Ahhhhhhhhh this is so messed up!! Can this whole thing get even worse?!" </p><p>"I'm pretty sure you don't want an honest answer on that, so let's just leave it as something rhetorical, okay?" Crow sighed heavily once she was finished speaking.</p><p>"For real..." Skull muttered in defeat as he threw his head a bit forward.</p><p>"According to what we've heard in the real world, principal Kobayakawa is comatose at a hospital." Queen stated ignoring Skull's frustrated complains. "He suddenly fell ill and lost conscious, but no one has a clear idea on what happened."</p><p>"Great! That means my plan actually worked! Don't worry about him, he'll be okay." Crow closed her eyes, feeling somewhat relieved that her plan with Kobayakawa had worked. When she reopened her eyes, she noticed all the Thieves looking at her as if she had two big horns on her head... Well, her mask was kind of pointy on the sides, but she meant actual horns.</p><p>"What exactly did you do, Crow?" Noir asked for the whole group.</p><p>"Kobayakawa became slowly aware that the organization was intending to get rid of him, so he started to wonder around the police station a lot more in his daily routine. When I noticed this particular change I came to the conclusion he was going to report the mastermind to the police, which would have gotten him in a lot more danger than he was already. The shadow was extremely paranoid, such was this that he didn't believe me at first when I told him my plan to make the organization believe he had suffered a mental shutdown. You see, there are cases of people who suffer these incidents that survive but stay in a coma state, which became the perfect way to trick the mastermind. I told the shadow that he had to return to his real self and pretend to have a mental shutdown so that, thanks to the knowledge of some survivors, he wouldn't be in danger of being targeted anymore. The mastermind thinks that Kobayakawa is as good as dead by now... Or at least that's what I'm hoping, because after realizing that he never trusted me to begin with, I can't be a hundred percent sure." </p><p>"Yo, that's one hell of a plan you got there Crow! That's super cool!!" Skull praised Crow for the first time. "Say, how'd you know it would work?" </p><p>"Oh I didn't really know it would work, it was my most rushed plan ever. I'd never tried it before, so you could say I was making a risky bet." These words made the whole group stare at Crow, who just shook her hands defensively. "Hey, at least it did work! In fact, if I had known this method would work before, we could have tried to use a similar one with President Okumura!"</p><p>"That's... Not a bad idea actually." Noir agreed with Crow's idea. "But what do you mean that we could have? Is it not possible anymore?"</p><p>"Well, Kobayakawa was put into the hospital a few days ago, meaning the plan won't work twice for this case." Crow furrowed her brows and crossed her arms against her chest. "The first time was effective because the survivors of mental shutdowns didn't have a specific pattern, usually being anomalies on the job more than anything, so Kobayakawa being dead or comatose at this time would be exactly the same for the mastermind. However, if Okumura also survives a mental shutdown himself after he ordered me to get rid of him, knowing that Kobayakawa survived before him, then the mastermind will realize these aren't coincidences and that there's something going on and as consequence of that, it'll make him put his suspicions on me." </p><p>"This planification is turning out to be more complicated that we originally thought. It's really a shame that we can't execute your plan Crow, since it proved to give the results you wished for." Fox praised Crow a little as well.</p><p>"I have to agree with Fox. Your plan, even if it was rushed and desperate, sounded like a very good option to escape this situation. However" Joker moved his hand, causing the tail of his coat to be thrown behind him. "I believe we should focus on securing the infiltration route first and once we're done with that, we can think of a proper way to deal with the change of heart. After all, nine heads think better than one, am I right?" The leader chuckled a little.</p><p>"Well, we're actually eight, because I'm pretty sure Skull doesn't have anything inside his." Morgana grinned; even after they apologized to each other the day before, the blonde and the cat still occasionally bothered each other, without any real harm intended.</p><p>"Shut up cat, wanna be thrown around a little more?!" Skull defended himself before looking at Joker and then back at Crow. "Uhhhhhh but if we talk 'bout it, wouldn't Crow count as two heads? Like she seems to be smart, and I'm pretty sure she'd give our strategist a big run for her money."</p><p>Crow raised an eyebrow at Skull and laughed at his compliment; that statement the vulgar thief give out managed to surprise her quite a bunch. "Well aren't you the smooth talker? Still, thanks for the compliment." </p><p>Queen looked directly at Skull with quite an unpleased look on her face, taking Skull's words not so well. In her defense, who would be okay with a statement about themselves like that? "Oh? Well these are some interesting words you're speaking up Skull. I wonder what you're trying to imply with them." Spoke Queen while cracking her knuckles loudly.</p><p>"N-N-NOTHING QUEEN I SWEAR P-PLEASE DON'T HIT ME!!" Skull took a few steps back shielding himself from any possible strike, which was enough reaction to make Queen stop teasing him. Still, the feeling of uncomfort that Skull's words gave her didn't abandon her body.</p><p>"Still though, isn't Oracle the true genius of our team? She is like a living super computer, so I'm sure she should count as at least three heads!" Panther stated while nodding firmly. How had all this become a talk about heads?! </p><p>"Ah, inspiration has struck me! A creature with multiple heads...! I must put this image into canvas! If only I had brought my sketchbook today..." Spoke up Fox with a rather sad tone voice averting his eyes to a side.</p><p><em>...How did all of this turn into a talk about heads? </em>Crow asked herself internally while staring at the group with a deadpan look on her face. Were these guys always like this or something? She expected them to be somewhat weird if they were all teenagers, but this was... she didn't want to say ridiculous, but it was still an accurate adjective for it.</p><p>"The point of all this head talk" Joker spoke up with a firm tone of voice so that the whole group would turn to look at him. "Is that we have a lot of skilled people in our group, so there's no chance we won't come up with a great plan to avoid the trap. With all that said, let's go and continue on with the infiltration!"</p><p>The group followed up the Joker through out the first portion of the Palace. The Thieves hadn't reach that far due to the sudden battle with the cognitive version of Haru's fiancé, and right after that, Crow appeared to them for the first time, so whatever was ahead from their last spot was a mystery. The shadows weren't incredibly active for some reason, which made the group have it somewhat easy to infiltrate around.</p><p>After running through for a few minutes, the group found themselves with one of the large doors that required the presence of someone authorized by Okumura himself in order to go through it. Noir stood in front of the door and some seconds passed until it opened up.</p><p>"So, Crow" Joker moved his sight towards Crow with a grin crossing his lips. "Did you ever have an idea on how to go through these doors? I personally doubt you'd have been able to go through them without Noir's help." </p><p>The black masked woman only chuckled to Joker's words. "Oh, that would be such a dilema~ That is if it wasn't me you were talking about. When Okumura first got involved himself with the organization, one of the conditions to join in was to leave no restrictions in his Palace. By being aware of my existence and my position inside the organization, Okumura was left with no other choice but to grant me full access to his Palace, even if he wasn't conscious of what a Palace was or that he even had one."</p><p>The group moved on some more until they found a second door which denied the entry to the group, requiring a higher Palace rank card to access it. But just as the group was ready to go and find the specified robot, Crow took a step forward. "As a result of that, Joker" The door started to scan Crow, and it opened up almost instantly. "I have the VIP treatment in this Palace~ In fact, you'll have no problem on passing these doors with high requirements if I'm here with you." </p><p>"Alright, I take it all back, that was quite impressive." A smirk appeared on Joker's lips, while the rest of the group were all astonished all yelling out things like <em><strong>HOW?!</strong></em> or <em><strong>THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!</strong></em>. After a short explanation on how Crow managed to open the door, the Thieves were reading to continue on with the infiltration, but they were interrupted by Oracle who called out for them.</p><p>"Guys, I detect a Will Seed around here somewhere! We should try to find it first before we move on!" The statement took Crow by surprise, causing her to move her gaze from one thief to the other.</p><p>"Huh? What's a Will Seed?" Asked the black masked girl with some curiosity beneath her mask.</p><p>"What?! You don't know what a Will Seed is Crow?" Mona turned to look at Crow with his eyes widened up, incredulously looking up at her. At the shake of her head, Mona took a moment before he started explaining. "You know how Palaces are locations that grew distorted from their original form thanks to their rulers cognitions, right?" Crow confirmed her knowledge by nodding, signing Mona to continue. "Well a will seed is the result of said distortions coalescing into form. Do you understand what they are now?"</p><p>"I see." This was the very first time Crow heard something about these 'Will Seeds' and her curiosity got the better of her, causing some of her detective like personality to slip out. "I have to say that's pretty interesting. So, while the Treasure represents the distorted desires of the Palace ruler themselves, the Will Seeds would be representing the origin from which those desires were born, like some specific moments of their lives that drove them to grow distorted in the first place." Crow lifted her gaze, noticing how all the Thieves were staring at her. "Uhm is this correct or am I just talking nonsense?"</p><p>"No no, that's in fact a correct deduction you made. It's just we are surprised you managed to understand it so easily when it took all of us some time to find out what they meant to the Palace ruler." Queen stated, with her wariness growing even more. Crow was indeed smart, too smart if she had to add... It made her fairly nervous to have someone this smart and that belonged to the evil conspiracy near them.</p><p>Once they all decided to put this conversation on stand by, the group went in search for the Will Seed. The first one of Okumura's Palace was hidden at an isolated room which was only accessible through a control room the Thieves would manage to get to thanks to a ventilation vent. It wasn't the first time Crow had to crawl through a ventilation vent, but it was for sure the first time she had to do so with such a large group. Knowing that she had to go through the vent with someone behind her made her feel very uncomfortable... Mostly if that someone would be a guy. If it was a girl, then it wouldn't be so much of an issue, but if it was a boy then it was a different story.</p><p>The one who noticed Crow's unease was Panther, who placed a hand on her shoulder while wearing a reassuring smile on her lips. "Don't worry Crow, we girls will be at the back and the boys will be on front." It was weird for Crow being comforted by one of the members, but it was nice nonetheless. </p><p>Crow allowed a sigh of relief to escape her lips. "I'm glad to know that." Truth be told, she felt a bit dumb for giving this much relevancy. How could she be worried about something that was unavoidable if they had to go through a space like that? God, travelling in group was such a pain. Still, knowing she wouldn't have to crawl with a boy looking behind her did make her feel much more comfortable.</p><p>It didn't take too long for the group to crawl through the vent and reach the control group. They used the shelving and boxes to course around in a circular way, that was until Joker signed them to stop while he stared at a particular spot up the circular path. "I think the Will Seed is up there." The spot Joker was looking at was several meters away from them, and there was no way for the Thieves to access it. Just when Crow was ready to jump on the walls and reach out that floor, Joker made a swift move of his hand throwing a something up to that inaccessible place. </p><p><em>Oh right, he has that! I forgot it</em>. Joker had a grappling hook. Crow recalled that back in May, she saw the Thieves getting to pretty high and weird place that they wouldn't normally be able to reach. It didn't take too long to notice that it was Joker with a grappling hook on his left hand that granted the rest of the group access to certain locations of the Palace.</p><p>"Alright, Crow grab onto my right hand. Skull, do the same with Crow and Fox grab onto Skull's. We four will get up there and get through the way to the Will Seed, the rest of you wait up here until we're back; Queen you're in charge. If an enemy sees you and it becomes a problem for you to take it down, let us know, and we'll be back in no time, got it?" The group nodded firmly and Crow herself gave him a nod as well.</p><p>When Joker extended his hand to Crow, she took it without any hesitation. She tried to avoid grabbing his hand too abruptly, since the claws of her gauntlet would for sure rip the leather of his glove. That instant when she took his hand, Crow recalled the days of her stay at the hotel during the Kobayakawa infiltration, more specifically the moment when she and Joker held hands during her outburst on the second day. That memory had grown to become a sweet and comforting one for her, though she didn't expect to recall it at a moment like that.</p><p>Shaking these thoughts away from her mind, she turned and offered her right hand to Skull, which he instantly took before offering his own right hand to Fox. Once the full line was complete, Joker pressed up the compartment of the grappling hook causing the four of them to be pulled rapidly through the air and reaching out the place that had been far from their reach just a few instants ago. </p><p>"I have to admit every time we travel with you during the use of your grappling hook, I feel quite stimulated. It's an incredible experience to live." Fox stated while looking down at the spot they were standing before they got up there. </p><p>"Dude, phrasing. I know it's for your art an' all, but phrasing..." Skull shook his head. He was right though; Fox appeared to have a certain tendency to use words in his phrases that could be easily misunderstood, although Crow didn't know if he did it on purpose or if he was just unaware of the double meaning his words could have. "He's right though dude, your grappling hook is the most badass thing ever!!" </p><p>"I agree with both. I witnessed how you used that grappling hook many times when I first started to follow you, but I never thought I would be able to have the chance to experience it first hand. Now that I have I can confirm it's amazing." Crow stated, praising Joker, action that earned her a chuckle from the raven haired leader.</p><p>"Oh you flatter me with your words guys. But save the praise  for later, we have business to deal with now." And so, the party continued on. They had to use the grappling hook once more to reach an even higher positioned floor, in which there was a large door which was covered by tapes that had the words 'Do not enter' pasted on them through their whole length. </p><p>With a swift move of Joker's dagger, the tapes were cut down and the door opened with a few seconds of hold. The room was pretty dark aside at the end of it, at where there was a skull shaped artifact that contained a smaller object, tainted in a dark red colour, contained inside it. The 'Will Seed' was placed on what seemed to be a pedestal, made out of blood-red branches that took different directions and allowed the Seed to rest at the top of the ramifications. Joker walked up to it and picked it up from the pedestal; Crow had been expecting something like an alarm or something to go off... She expected more of a fight to get this artifact that was so important to be hidden like it was.</p><p>Crow took a few steps closer standing next to Joker to take a look closer at the artifact. "So... This is a Will Seed right? What does it do exactly?"</p><p>"On their own, Will Seeds are pretty rare artifacts that aren't as valuable as a treasure. However, if the three Will Seeds of a Palace are put together, they fuse into an item that can grant a specific skill to any persona user who wears them." Joker explained. Suddenly, Skull stood up next to Joker's right side and threw an arm on his shoulder with a big grin on his face.</p><p>"Those items are pretty dope and with José's help, they can kinda evolve into even more broken items!" Skull added new knowledge to Joker's explination. However, the name 'José' got Crow somewhat confused.</p><p>"Uh... Who's José?" Asked the black masked woman, evidencing her confusion. The one to answer was Fox, who walked up to stand next to Crow.</p><p>"José is someone we've met at Mementos in some occasions. Apparently he makes certain modifications to unlock the obtained item's full potential, since their first fused state isn't that powerful. If my memory doesn't fail me, Panther is wearing the Ring of Lust, that was obtained in Kamoshida's Palace, Mona has the Ring of Gluttony from Kaneshiro's and Queen keeps the Ring of Vanity that we obtained in Madarame's Palace." Fox finished up the whole explanation Joker started.</p><p>"Oh... To be honest, I'm surprised that this kind of artifact, that seems to have a pretty high value, is just hidden and not guarded by a powerful shadow. I mean, these represent the origin of the palace ruler's distorted desires; even if they're not as important as a treasure, wouldn't the palace ruler want to protect them from being stolen a lot more than this?" Crow stared at the Will Seed with a huge curiosity in her eyes. Noticing it, Joker passed the Will Seed to Crow so that she could have a better look at it, which Crow received in her hands.</p><p>"Meh, the easier they're to get the better for us. In our experience, the first two usually aren't that protected, but the third one is always guarded by this hell ass shadow that we have to beat up. But y'know, we never struggle too much!" Skull smirked while Fox rolled his eyes at his words.</p><p>"Skull's actually minimizing a lot though. The shadow's that protect the last Will Seed of a Palace are usually considerably stronger than us, which obligates us to prepare a lot beforehand. However, the reward for acquiring the three Seeds is too great for us not to fight for them." Fox went against Skull's last statement, which caused the latter to grumble loudly.</p><p>"I see." Crow moved the Will Seed a little, taking a closer look at it. It didn't differ much from a normal skull; since she worked as a detective, it was somewhat normal for her to see things like this at her work while seeing a forensic analysis. What did surprise her was that the Seed proved to be quite heavy, even if she could hold it with one hand. That could probably be because of the dark red object that was embedded inside the skull; was that red thing the seed? Or was the grouping of the skull and the red thing the seed itself? <em>Questions questions. </em>As soon as her curiosity was satisfied, Crow gave back the Will Seed to Joker. "Should we go back to the others?"</p><p>"Yes, we've got what we wanted so we should leave now." Joker used his hand to throw the tail of his coat behind him and started heading back from where they came from. The party didn't have too much trouble coming down, and they found the rest of the team exactly in the same place they left them. </p><p>The way out was going perfectly until the reached the door the left open before they went in search for the Will Seed. Right on the other side of the door was a considerably large group of high level shadows, who appeared to be waiting for the Thieves to show up so that they could ambush the team. "<strong>THE INTRUDERS ARE HERE! LET'S ELIMINATE THEM FOR THE GLORY OF OUR GREAT PRESIDENT OKUMURA!</strong>" </p><p>As soon as the Thieves saw the shadows, they took their battle stances ready to defend themselves. However, one of them took some steps forward while keeping her arms crossed and sighing loudly. "Good grief, how come you show up now that everything's going so smoothly? Well no matter." Crow moved her sight from the group of shadows to Joker; he could see that her expression had shifted abruptly into one of seriousness, with her voice coming out dry and with a coldness that could be compared to an iceberg. "Do you mind if I take them down on my own? I promise it'll be quick." </p><p>It took a few moments for Crow to get a response; the Thieves exchanged some glances before nodding to one another to then look at Joker, who finally gave her the approving nod. "No problem, let's see what you're made of Crow." Even if the group didn't fully like the idea of letting her fight alone, this was the perfect opportunity to watch her skills in combat and to see if she was able to maintain a certain stability during battle; the more the group knew about her personality in combat, the easier it would be for them to integrate her into the team dynamic.</p><p>The sign for the start of battle came from the shadows who recognized Crow almost instantly when they saw her step up. "<strong>T-THE BLACK MASK! D-DON'T HESITATE ON USING LETHAL FORCE, SHE'S INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS! FOR THE GLORY OF OUR PRESIDENT OKUMURA WE WILL KILL YOU!</strong>" And so, the shadows finally transformed revealing their true forms; two Liliths, three  Girimehkalas and two Garudas stood firmly in front of the black masked woman. "<strong>NOW, LET'S DISPO</strong>-"</p><p>One of the Garuda's tried to speak, but it was aggressively interrupted by Crow's sword that went straight through its head, causing black blood to drip onto the floor.. Suddenly, she pulled the teethed sword out and made some hand moves, using the blade to massacre the shadow, turning it into nothing but black liquid. "God you're all annoying. Now" Crow turned her gaze towards the remaining shadows while wearing a tetric grin on her lips. "Who's going to be next?" The shadows shivered in fear, but still went head on to fight against Crow.</p><p>To say Crow was fast would be an understatement of her abilities; even without the Blink effect, she proved to be fast enough to dodge without any problems these high level shadows' attacks who weren't precisely holding back. Her fighting style could be described as a mixture of Queen's brutal strikes and Joker's agility and dynamism in battle; she didn't put too much effort into looking elegant and graceful when she attacked, but every single one of her punches, kicks, claw attacks and sword moves fulfilled the purpose of destroying the shadows with no mercy. The Garuda's were the first to fall, since they were rather weak in endurance, making some swift moves of her sword and a few fist strikes that were more than enough to make them fall to Crow's feet. </p><p>The two Liliths were quite strong using magic abilities, casting dyne level magic spells, such as Bufudyne and Garudyne, but Crow proved to have no problem in dodging these attacks. In a desperate act, the Girimehkalas intervened in the battle in an attempt to help their comrades to get rid of the persona user who just gave them trouble. One of them actually managed to land a strike on Crow, whose expression remained cold even after receiving the attack. She hadn't suffered any damage at all! Suddenly, a chuckle escaped her lips and a grin started to form on her face.</p><p>"That hurt you son of a bitch. COME FORTH, <strong>LOKI</strong>!!!" It was about time that Crow showed her own persona; up until that point, she had fought using only her physical abilities, avoiding the usage of her persona. But now, she was done playing around and was going to annihilate the shadows in front of her. The black mask she had vanished in the air, with her face being now covered by her gauntleted hand as the persona manifested.</p><p>It was quite... bizzare. A horned humanoid like creature of a black colour with white stripes on its body and two large braids was sitting on top of a flaming sword's handle, with a line of sharp red teeth forming a smile on its face. "<strong>I'm thou... Thou art I. From the sea of Thy soul I come from, I'm he who has brought chaos far beyond human comprehension and the gods' forgiving. I'm Loki, the Trickster God in the flesh. The enemies who stand in front of you shall become witnesses of real power. NOW, SET YOUR HEART FREE AND DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO ESCAPE YOUR WRATH</strong>!!" With a move of his hands that left them on a cross, the sword Loki was sitting on moved in the air around in circles, awaiting for his wielder's command</p><p>"SHOW THEM WHAT TRUE POWER IS, <strong>MARAGION</strong>!!!" With the shout of his wielder, Loki made two swift moves with his hands that made his sword's handle point to the ground, casting a powerful Maragion spell that was enough to turn the Girimehkalas into nothing but dust and leave the Liliths weakened on the ground, since their weakness was fire skills. </p><p>"H-Holy crap... Her power level is... IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!!" Oracle yelled to the whole group, making an obvious reference from a popular anime. Well, in her defense, it was just the perfect occasion to do it, so it could easily be forgiven.</p><p>"Finish them off, Loki." Spoke Crow as she turned around while her persona made his moves once more, casting one Megidolaon that served as a final strike to take down the Liliths. She walked back to the group with her mask reappearing on her face, using the smoke left by the fire spell she had casted before to hide her face before it became covered up once more. The whole group stared at her; Skull had his jaw practically on the ground, Panther had this sort of amazement in her eyes, Queen was even more wary than before, Joker had his classic smirk on his face, Mona nodded with a big smile of satisfaction on his kitty face and Noir applauded a little. "So, how was I? I hope I fulfilled your expectations."</p><p>"You didn't just do that, you broke 'em down! That was so fucking cool Crow!" Skull stated giving Crow an eager thumb up.</p><p>"I must agree. Your strength in battle is quite remarkable, and you radiate this certain aura of experience and mastery with each and everyone of your strikes, not to mention your persona has an incredible power." Fox nodded with a content smile on his face.</p><p>"T-Those weren't precisely weak shadows, in fact they were pretty strong ones and yeah... G-Good job out there..." Oracle spoke up shyly while averting her eyes away from Crow, who gave her a little smile of gratitude for her compliment.</p><p>"You're skill in combat is quite formidable indeed. Every single one of your strikes was consistent and most of all, they were all well performed making it easier for you to deal with the enemies without wasting energy unnecessarily. I hope your performance maintains this level of quality in future battles." Even if Queen didn't quite like having Crow around, she had to admit she was pretty good in battle.</p><p>"Alright, seems you've managed to impress us all Crow. Do me a favor and keep up the great work, okay?" Joker patted Crow's shoulder with a smile on his face. Once Crow nodded, the leader's focus went back to the rest of the group. "Alright guys, let's move on!" And so, the Thieves continued to traverse through the spaceport.</p><p>As the group continued on, they weren't any... problems per se. There was a particular issue that came up during their following battles, which was that Crow tended to get somewhat excited and attack the shadows all by herself, leaving the group without any possible chance of attacking the enemies. They wouldn't deny her strength but the Thieves needed to get stronger as well, and Crow was holding them back from doing so.</p><p>"Yo Crow, hold your horses!! I get you're excited about fighting and all, but you should leave something for us to deal with y'know!! How will we get stronger if you're taking down all the shadows?!" Skull was the one to protest, and the way he complained made the group shiver. Would Crow get aggressive and lose it with them?! Hoo boy they were scared.</p><p>But what happened was the exact same opposite of an outburst; Crow was taken aback with her eyes widely open, visibly nervous about being scolded, but not to the level of becoming aggressive in towards the Thieves. "A-Ah... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I got too carried away... I'll try to restrain myself from now on." </p><p>"It's okay Crow, no need to feel bad about it. It's good you're all pumped up and ready for battle, but if we don't fight then we won't get any stronger, you get what I mean?" Panther tried to speak in a more gentle and softer way than Skull so that Crow doesn't feel too intimidated. Crow nodded to Panther's words, allowing the Thieves to take control of their following battle.</p><p>This wasn't such a bad thing to do, since it gave Crow the chance to have a look at how her... 'temporary teammates' developed in battle. She stayed at the back of the group, analyzing each member and their dynamics in combat.</p><p>Skull was what she could easily call the muscles of the team. In matters of attack, he was extremely powerful when it came to single and all target physical strikes, landing a lot of attacks that would take down enemies with ease. In spelling terms, he was the one with the less management of magical skills, but that didn't stop him from having a pretty good use of electrical spells of medium level. His fighting style tended to focus a lot on forceful strikes, which was good because he always had a chance to destroy his enemies in one strike but also bad because his movements lacked any kind of flow, leaving a lot of room for accidents such as tripping or loose dynamic in key moments. But what he lacked in grace and flow he compensated it with being the toughest nut to crack of the whole group; he was a tank! She watched him receive a lot of attacks and still endure every single one of them seemingly unharmed in a way that startled Crow. How could he manage to do something like that? Probably his never-failing enthusiasm during every battle that proved to be absolutely contagious, since he managed to motivate the other members with a lot of ease. Most important of all, he was always ready to help out his team when they needed him, which showed Crow how reliable he could be.</p><p>Panther on the other hand was the exact opposite of Skull. Unlike him, Panther didn't have an outstanding physical strength; she wasn't weak at all when it came to it, but she wasn't exactly extraordinary either. However, this wasn't a bad thing at all, because even if Skull had the upper hand on physical terms, Panther was the directly a master at magic management. Her mastery with magical spells, mostly oriented to fire, was incredibly remarkable; even against enemies who didn't have fire as a weakness were wiped away with ease! Her fighting style was filled with quite some grace, which was hard to believe considering the laxed attire she had to wear during battle. Crow didn't know if she was a natural with the whip or if she had used one before, but she couldn't deny she had a considerable talent with her weapon. Every next move she made with it seemed to be connected with the previous one, almost looking like an amazingly coordinated dance of death. Her performance in combat and her dedication to the team made Crow understand that if she ever found herself in trouble, Panther would definitely be a powerful ally to count with.</p><p>Fox could be described as an updated version of Skull. Just like the latter, he had a physical strength that was beyond any of the other phantom thieves, being even stronger than Skull himself. He didn't slump in magic either, having an amazing control of ice magical spells and knowing exactly how to take advantage of these spells to boost the damage of his physical attacks. His fighting style was aesthetically the most pleasant out of all, as if he was putting extra effort to show his natural talent for aesthetics whenever his waved around his katana. Another remarkable thing of him is that he was fast, like REALLY fast. His speed and agility were both incredible, being somewhat close to Crow without the usage of her Blink effect. His unbelievable strength, his outstanding speed, his amazing agility and his perfect coordination made him one of the most balanced members of the team.</p><p>Crow wasn't really surprised when she noticed how talented Queen was in the battlefield. If Fox was one of the most balanced members, Queen was directly the second most balanced one. She had the whole combo; her physical strength was in the same level as Fox and Skull's, her management with nuclear magic skills was comparable to Panthers and her brains made it easier for the other members to develop easily in battle, being the one of fractionizing the enemies weaknesses and resistances if needed, though that was more part of Oracle's job. Her fighting style was a perfect harmony between a wild brute force and a remarkable consistency and sharpness on every single strike, making her, in Crow's opinion of course, the strongest member of the Phantom Thieves, just beneath Joker himself. Not only that, but she was tough, not as tough as Skull, but she had quite a lot of endurance herself, handling fairly strong strikes without too much trouble. In her, Crow saw a figure of confidence and power, which made her admire the strategist and respect both her position and her skills as a thief.</p><p>Crow never had a chance to see Mona fight when they first met, unlike him who did saw some of her skills. Now that she could see him, she noticed how interested his fighting style was. As a being with a short height, he was quite agile when it came to a face to face battle, and also had no problems when it came to sneaking on his enemies and take full advantage of the surprise factor. His magic control was quite impressive as well, not at the same level as Panther or Queen, but he was for sure great at it, being more of a support skilled member. Out of the eight members, he had the most repertoire of support skills which helped a lot for the team's dynamic to not be interrupted by any aliments or any risk of a member falling down on the battlefield. This made his presence quite necessary during any battle the Thieves entered to, since the rest were highly battle oriented, except for Queen, who had two support skills on her own, and the leader himself.</p><p>Noir was... Peculiar. There were times in which she seemed to struggle during combat and there were other times when she appeared to be a killing machine without the word 'mercy' existing in her vocabulary. Her physical strength was comparable to Fox or Skull, being around the same level as them, but she balanced it with a precise and sharp control of psychic magic skills, though not at the same level as Panther. Her fighting style consisted more of heavy attacks with her axe, having the same tendency as Skull to finish off her enemies in not more than one or two strikes of her weapon. What made her quite a powerful ally though were two specific areas in which she highlighted quite a lot; one was her gun attacks, including the ones of her grenade launcher. Crow was sure that Noir herself had the upper hand when it came to gun based attacks, such as Triple Down. And the other was the usage of Makarakarn and Tetrakarn, which were two trump cards that could easily bring victory to the team. This two spells casted on any party member a magical and physical barrier respectively, that protected them from any kind of attack, with the exception of almighty skills that would ignore either. Nevertheless, this skills were so broken that it would take one miss step from the enemy when one of this skills is activated for the battle to be decided. </p><p>Oracle, the Navigator of the group. Crow didn't exactly know why, but she had this strange feeling of... pride whenever she took a glance at her and saw her showing off her support skills. She couldn't fight herself, but with abilities like hers, did she even need to? She could use her persona to restore HP and SP to the whole team, she could raise attack, defense and evasion to each member without loosing any stamina and on top of that she could put them on Focus and Charge state, allowing their attacks to do the double amount of damage they would do. But this wasn't all! She had incredible analysis skills, being able to expose and every single one of the enemies affinities within nothing more than a few seconds of analysis. It was clear she was Wakaba Isshiki's daughter; her ingenuity and intelligence were her strongest weapon in battle.</p><p>Joker was... Oh what the fuck this person was literally a monster. Okay, she had to start somewhere, so she ordered her thoughts a little to make a profile of him. As the leader it was no surprise he would be the apex of the Thieves strength; his magical control was superb, his physical strength was unreachable, his speed was worthy of a lighting and his graceful fighting style made his qualities look even better than they were. He moved smoothly through the battlefield, commanding and guiding his teammates while he handled his own role during battle, which required a lot of concentration because one mess up would mean defeat. All these qualities made Crow grow envious of Joker, and there was also the fact that he could use multiple personas. But why? Crow was able to use two personas of her own, so why would she grow angry at that? Easy! This guy didn't use two personas, he used OVER SIX PERSONAS! All with different skills, powers and affinities, each unique on its own, each one with a different levels of strength than the other and every single one of them would give any kind enemy a lot of trouble in combat. How could he have such amazing powers so naturally? He said he awakened to his powers, so that meant this strength was purely his own, unlike Crow whose power had been given by a mysterious entity. Why couldn't she use the same power though? Her jealously grew stronger and stronger with every glance she gave to the leader.</p><p>But... He deserved it. Joker wasn't just an amazing fighter, he was a strong-willed leader, dedicated to helping his teammates and taking care of them as if they were his family. Kind, considerate and over all an amazing person. She was nothing more than a monster compared to him... Once Crow understood this undeniable truth, she accepted the fact that Joker deserved this privilege and even more. However, the fact that her envy wasn't strong enough to overcome all the respect and affection she held for him was sort of strange for her. But maybe it was better like that...</p><p>"This is a hold up!" Hearing Panther shout these words managed to shake Crow out of her thoughts as the whole group surrounded the group of shadows. She had seen Joker use a persona that looked just like these... Mothman was its name? Crow couldn't really recall it properly.</p><p>"<strong>A-Ah please no kill me! M-Me no want to die</strong>!" A Mothman whined in fear. In desperation to save his own life, he offered Joker a deal. "<strong>M-Me know! Me become your mask and</strong>-" The shadow interrupted itself, growing a bit sad. "<strong>O-Oh you already have Mothman trade in you...</strong>" The shadow's eyes grew wider and... it turned its sight to Crow? <strong>"...You don't though. Me want to know you better.</strong>" </p><p>"...Eh?" Crow was massively confused. The shadow wanted to know her better? What the hell did it mean by that? Not just her though, the whole party that surrounded the shadows were just staring at Crow with wide eyes. "I-I mean... Sure, let's talk." Answered at last the black masked girl.</p><p>"<strong>So, me have this friend that me care about very much, but he lie to me without any consideration of my feelings. How should me handle this?</strong>" Asked the shadow while looking at Crow expectantly.</p><p>"Uhm..." What should she do in that situation? This was all new to her, so she didn't know if she had to be serious about it or not. Just for the sake of not starting another battle, she gave the shadow an honest answer. "I believe the best you can do is talk with that person and sort things out. If you do, there's a big chance of them understanding their mistake and apologize to you." Funny, her old self wouldn't say something like that. The old her would probably not care at all that someone lied to her, since she was one big liar to begin with.</p><p>"<strong>Oh me think the same. Me care a lot about this person to just be angry at them forever! Me very happy now. You be very good with w</strong>--- <strong>Oh!</strong>" The shadow suddenly stood up on its feet. "<strong>Me remember now! Me no shadow from here! Me Mothman!</strong>" The shadow turned to Crow, seemingly content. "<strong>Me become your mask and grant you power. Use it how you want!</strong>" The shadow suddenly turned into a bright version of Crow's mask before it went straight onto her face.</p><p>"W-What the hell?!" Crow patted on her mask with her both hands even more confused. Become her mask? What did the shadow mean by that? "The fuck just happened?!"</p><p>"No way!!! You can use multiple personas too?! You have the same power as Joker?!" Mona was the first to show his surprise to the event that had just occur in front of his kitty eyes. Crow turned to Mona with her eyes widely open.</p><p>"S-Same power?! I mean I had another persona besides Loki, but I never... This never happened before! I never actually recruited a shadow as a persona, this is the very first I've done this!" Crow shook her head rapidly with her confusion growing bigger and bigger.</p><p>Thanks to the distraction of the moment, a group of shadows surrounded the team leaving them with no exit. Crow's nervousness had vanished almost instantly and was replaced by a sudden sensation of unknown strength. <em>I can sense it... The new power in me. </em>After a deep breath, Crow placed a hand on her mask making it disappear as she called for her new power. "HEED MY CALL, <strong>MOTHMAN</strong>!!" The short sized shadow manifested next to her wiggling its wings. "<strong>MAZIONGA</strong>!!!" Luckily for the group, the shadows had electricity as their weakness and weren't strong enough to withstand her attack, vanishing into black puddles.</p><p>"That was incredible!" Joker praised Crow, obviously impressed by Crow's performance. "It's a shame that with this power you decided to stand on the wrong side of the street..." Joker had some sadness in his tone of voice, even if his face kept his neutral and composed expression. </p><p>Crow wanted to tell him he shouldn't congratulate her over something she didn't deserve. That she wasn't worthy of this special skill unlike him, who was worthy of it and many more things that she could never even think about having. "Rest reassured... I'm on your side now." Was all she spoke as her lips curled into a little smile.</p><p>The leader returned the smile and gave her a nod. "I'll believe it when I see it, but I sincerely hope so." Joker really meant what he said. There was a part inside of him that wanted to believe Crow was different now and that she had abandoned all her evil intends, but he had no real proof of it... at least for the time being.</p><p>As the infiltration continued, the Thieves found a second issue with how Crow took the battles. She was clueless when it came on how to follow the team dynamics. This became very obvious on a specific battle, in which the team had the advantage against the shadows, making almost every single one of them fall to the ground.</p><p>"SHOW THEM <strong>KAMU SUSANO-O</strong>!! <strong>BUFULA</strong>!!!" Fox was the one to make the last enemy fall to the ground, leaving the entrance open to take them down with an all target attack. But instead of using something like a physical attack, the team went for a much better option that wouldn't make them waste energy unnecessarily.</p><p>"Enemies are down, ready for an All-Out-Attack! Beat them up!" Oracle yelled to the group, and these words caused a smirk to appear on Joker's face.</p><p>"NOW!! EVERYONE, TIME TO SMASH!!" At the signal, every member jumped into the battlefield, attacking from different spots while moving around the enemies. Every one of them was participating in the attack... Except for Crow who was standing there, staring at the scene with a confused look worthy of an anime character.</p><p>"H-Hey Crow, what are you standing there for?! You should be joining them for the All-Out-Attack!" Oracle scolded Crow, who turned around with her hands up in a defensive position.</p><p>"What?! How was I supposed to know what to do?!" Her mask hid it perfectly, but Crow's face was flushing in a bright red colour due to the huge embarrassment. She had never done anything like that before so how could she know what to do? As the battle reached its finale, the group came up to Crow, visibly conflicted with Crow's obliviousness.</p><p>"Why didn't you join in?! Whenever we get to take down all the enemies all of us jump in and start smashing around the shadows! It's a good way to not lose so much energy, and we look badass in the process." Skull explained and after that he crossed his arms against his chest while grinning. "What happened to those two years of experience you bragged about before huh?"</p><p>Okay Crow had enough with that shit. Her expression grew angrier as she glared at Skull. "Oh excuse me for not knowing about a technique like that. How could I possibly not use it before? Oh right, maybe it's because of the fact that it's a purely <strong>group based</strong> technique, and I've been in the Metaverse all by myself until this point. It could be that, but I'm honestly not sure." The sassiness Crow showed managed to make some of the Thieves, like Queen, Mona and Skull, get startled while some others, like Joker, Noir and Panther, just giggled a little.</p><p>Skull was taken aback and rubbed the back of his head with his sight averted to a side, aware that he had messed up. "Uh yeah... Sorry 'bout that, I forgot." Still, he looked up at Crow once more. "But you did say you'd spied us during Madarame's Palace, so you must've seen us doing it sometime."</p><p>Now it was Crow's turn to tense up a little. "That... That's true." She had to admit as a long sigh escaped her lips. "Yes, I may have seen you doing that sort of attack before, but I guess I forgot as well. Not that I didn't want to help you, it's just that you all got me by surprise and I didn't know what to do." </p><p>Panther didn't miss the chance to smack the back of Skull's head with her palm. "Jeez, why is it that you make points only when you're picking up on someone? You need to be more mature Skull!" The poor thief was rubbing the back of his head while grumbling in complaint to the sudden strike of Panther's hand. </p><p>Joker, keeping his usual smug and composed attitude, chuckled a bit at his teammates before looking at Crow. "Don't worry about it Crow, just be sure to join in next time. Remember you're not acting on your own anymore and that you're part of a larger mechanism, so you need to work properly in order for the team's dynamic to keep functioning. Don't be shy about battling with us, just try not to get too carried away like before, and you'll be good." He sure knew what words to say when someone wasn't quite feeling it; this had to be one of his natural talents or something, because there was no way for someone to be able to speak with such ease the exact words to make a person confident.</p><p>The team moved on through the spaceport and Crow had more chances to demonstrate that even though she had worked all on her own, she had no problems in fulfilling her role as a party member. Every new battle was the start of the same amazing cycle; hit enemies weakness, Baton Pass to a member who could strike another weakness, take down all the enemies, All-Out-Attack. No matter how many times they did it, every single time they ambushed a new shadow, this cycle felt like a new refreshing experience.</p><p>Still, Crow couldn't help but find somewhat weird the idea of this team still functioning well with her presence in it. Occasional praising aside, the Phantom Thieves had made it clear that they didn't trust Crow so much, due to her past deeds. However, they didn't doubt a single moment in allowing her to join to each Baton Pass and All-Out-Attack they performed. It was just as Joker described it; each member was essentially a gear that kept this battle mechanism working smoothly, and they had no problems in including her in their dynamic as if Crow was a Phantom Thief herself. It was something she struggled to understand. There was one thing she couldn't deny though; this new battle tactics were a lot better than the ones she'd been using so far. Before she met the Thieves, Crow took a lot of pride in taking down huge hordes of enemies all by herself because, in her own eyes, this represented her own self-sufficiency. After all, fractionizing work between multiple people was nothing more than a sign of weakness, making you dependable of other people's cooperation to get the job done... <em>...I was so foolish. </em>Now she understood that she was wrong all along. Dividing the work didn't make you weak, it just demonstrated how you were able to put the trust on a peer that would for sure give their best to finish up the work. The system wasn't perfect though; thanks to her habits, Crow wasn't always able to meet the team's expectations who were frustrated about her taking too much the initiative, while Crow herself grew frustrated at the Thieves who sometimes seemed to act the opposite as Crow expected them to. Nevertheless, the synergy between the group and Crow was never lost, making the teamwork function wonderfully and become somewhat pleasant for the black masked girl. </p><p>"Crow hit the enemies' weakness, good job!" Oracle spoke, causing Crow to chuckle a little. Remembering one of the present shadows was weak against nuclear attacks, Crow whistled loudly.</p><p>"Queen, you're up!" As soon as she heard Crow call out for her, both girls walked to each other and made a high five, allowing Queen to take the upper hand next. </p><p>"Alright! <strong>COME, JOHANNA!!</strong>" The bike persona heeded her wielder's call, manifesting and allowing Queen to ride on it. "<strong>FREILA</strong>!!" The persona cast the medium level nuclear spell to the last standing shadow and once all of them were down, the time came for an "LET'S GO, THEY'RE ALL DOWN!" All-Out-Attack. </p><p>It was so addicting. Was this how it felt to be able to trust someone? Even with their differences and problems, the team trusted Crow enough to allow her to join into their tactics and Crow trusted them to help her when she needed them. This felt... so good. </p><p>The second Will Seed wasn't so hard to find. The door to it was hidden at a high spot of the Export Line, protected by a few lasers that would increase the security level and bring reinforcements to take the Thieves down. It was as simple as run around a few times, find the console that controlled the lasers that guarded the door to the Will Seed and deactivate them from said console. Something quite good was that along the way to the second Seed, Crow managed to get a good number of personas through negotiations that proved to be very useful in battle, even if they weren't as strong as Loki or Robin Hood. Once they reached the end of the Export Line, a thought crossed Crow's mind, with how easy to find that Seed proved to be, Crow couldn't help but feel that the final Seed would be particularly hard to get to.</p><p>Her assumption wasn't wrong. The Central Factory was the most laberythine area of the whole Palace; to move around this area, the Thieves had to use conducts that threw them through the emptiness of space to another spot that was connected with said conduct. As if that wasn't enough of a bother, some conducts would deactivate if you used a specific conduct, making it a crusade to traverse through the area without ending up at a spot without an exit. However, thanks to some necessary experimentation with the ducts, the team finally made crafted a path to the exit and also managed to reach the hidden spot where the Will Seed was being guarded. Just as Skull predicted, there was a shadow standing right in front of the large door, looking around for any potential intruders.</p><p>"G-Guys that show is VERY dangerous. From my analysis, I can tell that it's strength is fairly close to Crow's!" Oracle stated. The whole team became surprised by the Navi's statement.</p><p>"For real?! Dammit but we can't just stand back here and do nothin'! We need that Will Seed!" Skull protested, visibly angry. She couldn't blame him for that though.</p><p>"I agree with you Skull, but we can't jump into a battle knowing that the strength of the enemy is so superior to ours; we've already experienced how powerful this guardian shadows can be. At least we should prepare with items or think of a strategy." Queen tried to calm down her teammate with some logic, but Skull's frustration only grew stronger.</p><p>"I have an idea! How about we use a big bunch of kunda abilities on it and then boost ourselves up with kaja ones? That way we would be a little more balanced in strength!" Panther suggested with her gaze moving from member to member, expectant for answer.</p><p>"I'm not so sure about that strategy. If we lose too much time in debilitating the enemy and boosting ourselves up, it could easily charge at us while we're focusing on that task. And even if we were able too, there's always the chance of the shadow having either Dekunda or Dekaja, which would turn all our effort on softening it up into nothing." Joker was the one to give Panther a logical yet frustrating answer. "If would be different if we had a way to debilitate it with one move, but since we have single kunda skills..."</p><p><em>Wait... a way to debilitate them in one move? </em>An idea crossed through Crow's mind. "I can do that." She blurted out these words almost instantly, causing the whole group to turn their sights towards Crow, ready to hear what she had to say. "As I told you before, I have a second persona. Said persona counts with a skill called 'Debilitate', which lowers attack, defense and agility for quite a large period of time. I will keep the enemy distracted for sometime and cast the spell on it while you guys focus on boosting the team, and as soon as we get the chance, we attack it. Sounds good?"</p><p>"That doesn't sound like a bad idea at all!" Noir was the first to agree with Crow's idea, turning her gaze to the leader of the team. "What do you think Joker?"</p><p>"I'm totally in for it." The leader crossed his arms over his chest and gave Crow a firm nod before he turned his sight to the others. "As soon as Crow casts the spell on the shadow, Queen, Skull and Fox, use you're respective Makaja on the whole team alright? The sooner you do it, the less time it'll have to attack us." The three members Joker called for gave a firm nod and with that, the team went up to the shadow, who groaned in anger as soon as they approached to his sight range.</p><p>"<strong>HOW BOLD OF YOU TO SLACK OFF, IN COMPLETE DISREGARD TO YOUR DUTIES...</strong>" The shadow spoke with a robotic tone. "<strong>IT SEEMS WE HAVE A FEW IMPRUDENT WORKERS WHO REQUIRE SPECIAL TRAINING!</strong>" Once it finished its words, the shadow transformed into some kind of man inside a purple winged costumed that gave the vibes of a superhero. The words it spoke managed to infuriate Noir.</p><p>"Training?! You call that awful torture you put the employees through training?! We will not take any of that!!" Noir yelled at the shadow with pure anger in her voice. To this reaction, the shadow growled and took a fighting stance. "Let's take it down!"</p><p>Crow took in a deep breath and closed her eyes... For a moment, the whole world around her appeared to stop, leaving her to hear nothing but her own thoughts. <em>It's been a while since I've used you... Will you be my strength again? </em>A wave of warmth inside her heart made a smile cross through her lips as her left hand crawled its way up to her mask. <em>I know you and I had our differences and that I rejected your existence as if you weren't a part of me. Now that I'm here, I understand why I did such a thing... You represent that childish side of my heart that always believed everything would be fine in the end, that I would find somewhere to belong... That I would be loved. But one day, I just grew tired and decided I didn't want to believe in anything anymore, pushing you away from me as much as I could. However, you didn't care how much I tried, you were still there. No matter how much I tried to push you away, you were still there in the depths of my heart. So now that I realize my mistake, if I call your name, will you appear and help me? I swear that'll never dismiss you like I did in the past. So please..</em>. Once her hand finally reached her mask, it began to disappear into blue flames, allowing her hand to cover her face. "HEED MY CALL, <strong>ROBIN HOOOOOOOD</strong>!!!!!!" The flame's the mask began to shift their shape. <em>How could I ever abandon you, m'lady? </em>Was the last thing she heard in her mind before her persona manifested.</p><p>Behind Crow stood proudly a cartoonish like humanoid with a considerable height and muscle structure. His outfit was tainted in pure white with traces of red on his shoulders and two golden letters, R and H, written on its chest. Said being carried with his right hand a large bow and a arrow, as a red cape rolled down all the way through his back. "<strong>I am thou, Thou art I... I come from the sea of Thy soul and my name is Robin Hood, master of thievery and unruly hero of justice. That wish to bring evil doers down burning with such passion within your steeled heart resembles inside my very being, so I will grant you my power to accomplish that goal.</strong> <strong>Now, do not hesitate to bring all of your enemies down with the strength of our justice!</strong>" The archer pulled his bow behind him, awaiting for his wielders command.</p><p><em>Thank you, Robin... </em>"SHOW THEM WHAT WE ARE MADE OF, <strong>DEBILITATE</strong>!!!" The archer pulled his bow back up and pointed it towards the shadow, casting the ultimate kunda spell on it. Its attack, defense and agility were lowered! As soon as she cast the spell, Joker yelled 'NOW' as a sign for the assigned Thieves to use their skills.</p><p>"Got it!! <strong>SENTAI TENSEI</strong>! <strong>MATARUKAJA</strong>!!!" Skull summoned his persona, Sentai Tensei, a very particular being. It was basically a humanoid like monkey who stood on top of a cloud and flied on it. It had sunglasses and a large stick that it held on its right shoulder. As soon as it appeared, the attack boost skill was activated for the whole team.</p><p>"ALRIGHT LET'S GO, <strong>JOHANNA</strong>!! <strong>MARAKUKAJA</strong>!!" The motorcycle persona and Queen rode it, casting the defense boost skill onto the whole team.</p><p>"Allow me! <strong>KAMU SUSANO-O</strong>!! <strong>MASUKUKAJA</strong>!!" Behind Fox appeared a being covered in a large brown cape, holding a particular shaped sword and with long white hairs falling down onto it back. Said persona activated the agility boost skill, leaving the whole team ready to strike up without mercy.</p><p>"<strong>OH, YOU THINK THAT'S GONNA BE ENOUGH TO DEFEAT ME?</strong>" The human like shadow flew around a little, as if it was preparing a powerful attack. "<strong>TAKE TH</strong>-" Before the shadow could land his strike, a boyish voice interrupted it.</p><p>"Not so fast!!" Mona was running on his four paws up to the shadow; once he was at a certain distance, he jumped into the air and called out for his persona. "SHOW YOUR MIGHT, <strong>ZORRO</strong>!!!" Crow was allowed to see the buffed humanoid persona wearing the black outfit, characteristic of the western thief. "<strong>GARULA</strong>!!" With a move of his sword, Zorro cast a medium wind spell... And it hit. No, it not only hit, wind was the shadow's weakness! The shadow fell to the ground and groaned in pain giving the team a chance to corner it. </p><p>"Alright Mona found the weakness, let's smash him up!!" At Joker's signal, the whole team jumped right onto the shadow and started attacking it from diverse angles, leaving it without a chance to escape the merciless attack. Thanks to the shadow being fully debuffed and the team being extremely buffed, the All-Out-Attack caused a massive damage on the enemy, leaving it somewhat weak even with the natural power gap that there was between it and the Phantom Thieves. </p><p>"Let's do it one more time guys! COME, <strong>JATAYU</strong>!!!" Joker ripped off his mask as blue flames started to appear behind him, taking the shape of a large pink bird. "<strong>GARUDYNE</strong>!!!!" The bird shirked loudly at the shadow, casting the high level wind spell on it. The damage was incredible, and it left the shadow on the ground with nothing more than a little strength; it wasn't even able to stand up anymore. "Final blow people!!" And with the signal that indicated them to finish it up, the team jumped once more and attacked the shadow mercilessly until it finally vanished into nothing but a black puddle. </p><p>Skull was the first to celebrate the victory, throwing one of his fists up in the air. "Hell yeah!!! We beat the crap out of it no problem!!" A cocky grin appeared on his lips as he giggled amusedly at their triumph.</p><p>"It was indeed a good battle. Thanks to our special strategy  we had no issues in taking it out in a short amount of time." Fox nodded in agreement with Skull, who friendly patted Fox's shoulder.</p><p>"Great work everyone." Joker moved his sight towards every single member, who had smiles on their faces and were looking at each other giving thumbs up. Joker's eyes suddenly reached Crow, who seemed to be quite satisfied with the victory herself. The leader winked at her, mouthing the words 'Good job', but not saying them out loud.</p><p>The black masked girl gave him a nod and a smile of gratitude for it, and after a few more seconds of short celebration, the team made their way to get the last Will Seed. Once Joker got his hand on the final Will Seed and the whole team turned to go back to where they came from, Crow was able to see what Joker, Skull and Fox were talking about when they found the first Will Seed. The three Seeds started to react to each others' presence, spinning around with an exponentially increasing speed, until a point in which they emerged as a new object. The new artifact resulting of the Seeds' fusion was a medium size three faced skull that had an intense white light glowing inside of it. According to Joker, this was they called 'prior fusion state' of the item. Said name was given because in order to reveal the item's full potential they needed to communicate with this José guy, who would make modifications to it and grant the Thieves the true power their newfound treasure would give them. <em>... Who the fuck is that José?! And how can he upgrade this kind of items so easily?! </em>These doubts appeared inside Crow's head while they coursed through the last portion of the Palace. Even if she really wanted to ask, she figured the that the Thieves wouldn't tell her because even if they trusted her enough to tell her about the existence of José, they wouldn't trust her with the methodology behind his tricks... That, or maybe the Thieves themselves were clueless about how José did that kind of things.</p><p>But she pushed those thoughts away quickly to focus back on the infiltration. After coursing around a few more minutes and helping the Thieves avoid certain traps that were placed around the Transfer Line section of the Palace, they finally reached what appeared to be the Weapon Production Area, and at the very center of the room was a... floating cloud? This particular view triggered a déjà vu on Crow; she swore she had seen a thing just like that elsewhere, but where?</p><p>"Is that the treasure perchance Mona-chan?" Noir beat Crow in asking the one million yen question. As soon as she asked, Mona turned to Noir and jumped up a little with a big smirk on his face.</p><p>"Precisely Noir! Now that we've secured the treasure route we can think of a plan to steal it!" Mona seemed rather excited about finally reaching the treasure. This particular excitement piqued Crow's curiosity, who approached a little more to the spot where the wavy cloudy thing that was floating some meters above the floor.</p><p>"So, this is the so-called 'treasure' huh... I believe I've seen this before." Crow tried the hardest she could to recall where she had seen something like that. After a few seconds of thinking it through, the memories finally came to her. "Oh of course! I've seen this kind of object in many Palaces from the organization members. That means that is the core of the Palace?" Crow turned to the rest of the team with expectant eyes.</p><p>"Yes it is. And as Mona said, we should all think of a way to make it materialize without the calling card." Queen's gaze fell to the ground, and she crossed her arms in thought. "I want to look into some things that I have in mind, but I'll take some time, probably a few days at most." </p><p>The atmosphere grew awkwardly silent for some reason... Until Joker spoke up. "Alright, we've all done an incredible work today. I suggest that we gather up next Monday how we'll steal Okumura's treasure without the calling card, sounds good?" Every single one of them turned to look at Joker; his teammates were somewhat taken aback for his words, with Crow being the only one composed.</p><p>Joker turned to Panther and nodded, confirming his statement. The reason for the leader to make this suggestion was quite obvious; he didn't want Crow to know their identities. She was a capable fighter in the Metaverse, and she got used to their team dynamic quite fast considering how she had been all solo the past years, but that wasn't reason enough to trust her with their secret. </p><p>And of course Crow would agree with it, since she didn't want them to figure her identity either. It was in both part's best interest to just meet up at the Palace. "Sounds good to me. We should all part ways and think on our own of a plan for this situation. I'll see you all next Monday, dear Thieves." Crow suddenly jumped on the walls to reach out the ceiling structures of the room. Once she was high up, she waved a hand at the group, who just watched her walking back into the shadows. "Toodles~!" And as she stepped into the shadows, Crow disappeared from the Thieves sight. The group didn't lose another second and decided to leave as well; now they had to solve the big question of this case.</p><p>How the hell would they steal Okumura's heart?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>OOF finally I was able to finish the chapter. I'm sorry for not being able to post it earlier, but real life catched up to me and many social meetings I didn't have throughout the year happened all in a single week and now it's finally visit time lmao. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the new chapter and that you have a wonderdul christmas and new year!! ^^</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A Change of Dynamics</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After a whole month of being submited to Royal's curse, I've finally completed the chapter! I hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful start of week~!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The team realized, surprisingly, that they had been quite a long time in Okumura's Palace; they went in around 2 PM and came out at 7 PM! Then again, thanks to the time they invested and the help of their temporary ally they had finally secured the infiltration route, giving them a considerable amount of time to steal the treasure. The group of teenagers were on their way home while chattering about the events that happened during the infiltration.</p><p>"Dude, I haven't been this beat since we took down Kamoshida. I'll be lucky if I make it home." Ryuji complained casually, earning himself an sigh of exhaustion from Ann.</p><p>"I know right? I don't know..." Ann tried to hold it in, but a long yawn escaped her lips as she stretched her arms up. "I don't know if I'll hold on long enough to reach my bed today." Managed to speak the girl, rubbing her eyes slightly.</p><p>"Well it is not every day that we successfully secure our infiltration route in just one day." Yusuke spoke in his neutral tone, but his face gave out that he was just as tired as the other members. "However, now that we have established a route, we should be able to steal the treasure rather earlier than we expected the first time we went in." </p><p>"That's true! And with the amount of time we have, we will come up with a good plan to steal it!" Haru nodded with an enthusiastic smile on her lips. The excitement she had to make her father cease his cruel actions was evident. Her eyes landed on Ren as the group walked down the street. "Speaking of which, we have until Monday before we go back to the Palace, am I right Ren-kun?"</p><p>"Yeah, we have until then to come up with something." Ren gave Haru a nod. For some reason, the raven appeared to be lost in his own world, but after the events that happened the past days, the team thought he might just be very tired.</p><p>"That's the part that worries me though. We may have time and all, but we still have to come up with something for the trap." Makoto had her arms crossed and her chin was placed between her index and thumb as she spoke. "However, there's another reason why I asked to not go back until Monday. Before we decide our course of action, I would like to check on Principal Kobayakawa's situation at the hospital, to confirm if Crow's statements about her plan coincide with reality or not." </p><p>"I'm still confused about one thing though." Ann spoke as soon as Makoto was done speaking, slightly raising her hand up. "Why do we have to meet up in the Palace? I mean, wouldn't it just be easier to go to the hideout like we always do?"</p><p>"As much as I would like to do that myself, Ann, we can't precisely have Crow know the place where we meet up at, can we?" Ren chuckled a little when he saw Ann gasping in realization.</p><p>"O-Oh right I forgot..." Ann averted her eyes in slight embarrassment, with her cheeks puffing up in a shade of pink. "Sorry about that. It's just she seemed to fit in so well with us that I kinda forgot we shouldn't be trusting her THAT much."</p><p>"Don't worry about it Ann-chan!" Haru attempted to cheer Ann back up. "I understand what you mean with that; it's hard to remember we have to hold some things from her after how easily she interacted with us and followed our teamwork." </p><p>"Yeah I get all that, but who the hell is this girl anyway?!" After a long while of being silent, Futaba spoke up, with clear fear in her voice. "Like seriously, she's LITERALLY all over the place! She's super fast and has that trick in which I can't detect her if she hides up! It's just... Who the hell is she?!" </p><p>"I must agree with Futaba." Yusuke's brows furrowed in deep thought. "Not only she has some skills we lack, but she's somewhat... strange. In one moment guilt appears to consume her completely, the next moment she is lost in her maniac laughter. Then, all of the sudden, she begins killing shadows like they're nothing... And at last, she manages to follow up every single one of our team tactics without any issues..." Yusuke shook his head. "If I analyze it once more, Makoto's description of her seems the mostsuitable: mentally unstable."</p><p>"I don't expect her to be anywhere near stable after all the things she had to face in her life." Ren pointed out with his arms crossed against his chest. "To be honest, it would be harder to believe if she came out stable with all the things she had to go through."</p><p>"Yo, gotta admit the girl's sorta creepy, but she's so fucking cool too!" Ryuji spoke up with a rather high tone of voice. "Like, she's all badass and scary looking, just like that western dark hero from the movies!! What was it... Bugman...???" Ryuji tried his hardest to recall the name, but to no avail.</p><p>"I think you mean BATMAN Ryuji." Futaba rolled her eyes while correcting her friend's words. Even if she didm't like the conversation, she couldn't let his mistake pass. "And just so we're clear, he's not from movies, he's from DC comics. Get your act together, will you?!" </p><p>"H-Hey I don't know that much about western shit! I just know stuff from Featherman and such, so don't nag at me!" Ryuji tried to defend himself, but the rest of the group chuckled at his misery.</p><p>"Ryuji's right though; even if we can't trust her that much, I have to admit she's pretty cool. I don't know much about this 'Batman' thing, but she kind of reminds me of spies or secret agents that do everything in the shadows and still are superb." Ann stated, earning some nods from the others, except from Makoto.</p><p>"All of that makes me even more concerned about her presence among the team." Makoto's tone of voice was rather low and her face had a frown. "For someone who's so mentally unstable, her smartness and strength are overwhelming... No, I think I'm missing the most important thing. She's very adaptable. At first, she found it difficult to follow our teamwork, but it took her no more than some battles to adapt to it. Not just that, but both her stealth and combat abilities are very remarkable, and I don't even want to start talking about the fact she can wield multiple personas like Ren. If she were to betray us now, she would be too much for us to handle. Even with Ren and all of our effort combined, she could give us a lot of trouble."</p><p>"Whatever her intentions may be at the moment, we must not let our guard one. Her instability could prove fatal for us if we're not careful enough, so let's not forget about who we're dealing with." Yusuke stated as they walked.</p><p>The conversation continued for the rest of the walk to the station. Aside of the two times she spoke up, Futaba remained quiet the rest of the way back to Leblanc, making her fear evident. Who wouldn't be scared at a situation like that though? After two long years, Futaba found her mother's murderer, and now she had to work along with her, not knowing if said person would betray and try to kill them as soon as they give her too much rope. The situation was TENSE. Ren hoped with his whole heart that eventually things would loosen up and become easier for the team to handle.</p><p>_/_</p><p>The odd but familiar sound of water dripping from metallic pipes caused Ren to wake up. Being as situational as it was, waking up in the Velvet Room had become a part of his life at that point. In fact, he was actually expecting to be summoned that night with all the particular events that had been happening the past days. </p><p>Ren slowly sat up on his prison bed and stood up, walking to the steel bar door and gripping said bars while looking at the long nosed man known as Igor. Though this time, for some strange reason, Ren felt different when he saw him sitting at his desk.</p><p>"The prisoner Ren Amamiya has returned, master!" Carolina was the one to pull Ren out of his thoughts, followed by Justine who turned to look at him.</p><p>"Our master wishes to have a few words with you. Make sure to hear him wholeheartedly, inmate." And with these words, the warden turned her sight back at Igor.</p><p>"To think this other metaverse user would decide to join forces with you after erasing the distortions that held her heart captive. A marvelous outcome indeed." The long-nosed man's classic grin was planted on his face with each word he spoke.</p><p>"Oh not just that, now we know she also has the same power as I do. You called it 'the wild card power', right Igor?" The man nodded at Ren's question, proceeding to speak some more words.</p><p>"I must say that even if I did expect this other metaverse user to have a considerable strength, I could have never predicted that she would be the wielder of a power such as your own. Your rehabilitation is proving to be quite fascinating to witness." </p><p>"Our master is praising you now even more inmate! Cry your tears of joy!" Caroline hit the baton she always kept with herself on her left shoulder.</p><p>"To think our master would offer you such words full of praise to you again. You better treasure this moment, inmate." Justine spoke gently, yet with the same acidity her sister had in her words.</p><p>But Ren wasn't paying any attention to Justine and Caroline. The only thing that had his attention at that moment were Igor's words <em>A power such as your own. </em>Igor himself hadn't expect for Crow to have the wild card power either. But something didn't line up in all this... "Wait, I'm confused. If she has the same power as I do, wouldn't that mean she'd have been in the Velvet Room just like I am?" If Crow did have the same power as him, then that unavoidably meant she should have access to things such as persona fusion or at least know the concept of confidants. But Igor's denial was all he obtained to his doubt.</p><p>"No, she has never been in here. No one else in allowed to enter the Velvet Room besides yourself." The long-nosed man's answer didn't satisfy Ren at all, it just gave him more doubts. But he decided to not push Igor with further questions, at least for the time being, even if the young thief couldn't help but think that something about this situation was... odd. </p><p>"However, I'm intrigued on how this turn of events will influence on your current path. Will it help you get closer towards your full rehabilitation, or will it bring closer the destined ruin?" Igor chuckled slightly while tapping the fingers of his right hand on the desk. "Only time will tell which will happen, but no matter what, I'm looking forward to witnessing the outcome." </p><p>The raven stepped back and allowed himself to sit down at the prison bed. Just like always, Igor didn't help at all when it came to clearing his doubts. The so-called master of the Velvet Room never did anything relevant, aside of granting him a few spinets of power here and there. He wasn't even in charge of the fusions or the compendium at the very least! Those things were Caroline and Justine, while all Igor did was say things like <em>My my</em> or <em>Let us begin.</em> And whenever Ren had a serious question, Igor would either avoid it or give him, in Ren's eyes of course, a useless answer. But questioning Igor meant the twins behaving like punks to Ren, and he was already too tired thanks to the pressure of meeting Crow and securing the treasure route in just one day, so he decided it would be best to drop it for the time being.</p><p>"Alright, go back to your precious sleep time! Enjoy it while you can, inmate!" Caroline hit the bars of the prison cell, seemingly amused by her own action. All Ren did was hiss beneath his breath in annoyance before laying down on the bed and closing his eyes. It was time to go back to reality...</p><p><br/>
                                        --------</p><p>Friday 16th of September</p><p>Inside the Metaverse Akechi was fairly strong, she had no doubts about it. Ever since she got Loki and Robin Hood by her side, she'd been able to do amazing things that no one could ever dream about doing. In the Metaverse she was able to destroy large amounts of shadows in nothing but the blink of an eye, she could move around with no one noticing her presence and, even though she wasn't anywhere near proud about it now, she'd killed people thanks to the cognitive world. The Metaverse always gave her this intense sensation of power beyond imagination...</p><p>A power that she totally lacked in the real world. She knew some techniques for defense, but their purpose was almost completely meant for work and she most certainly wouldn't have the guts to kill someone in the real world. <em>Weak</em>. That's how she felt in her daily life; even with her job as a detective, even with all the privileges that came with her position, she felt massively weak. Weak against Shido, weak against adults... and thanks to the whole situation with the Phantom Thieves, she felt weak against her own classmates.</p><p>Boys usually don't see it, but girls aren't strangers when it comes to humiliation. Usually men tend to deal with their matters with brute force, where as women are a lot more subtly about their conflicts, choosing to deal with them behind a smoke screen. However, women can be quite cruel when their hate is directed towards anyone in particular. In Kosei, the high school where Akechi attended, the Phantom Thieves had acquired quite a lot of popularity, being Akechi herself one of the few (for not saying the only one) who were against the Thieves actions. The guys would just brush it off saying she was desperate for attention, but the gals of the school had other type of ideas to make sure she understood she was even more hated now.</p><p>"Urgh..." The detective girl groaned as soon as she noticed the shoes she wore when outside school soaked up completely. There was a watery note placed right next to them in which were written the words <em>Have fun on your way home, idiotic bitch. </em>The poor girl grabbed her soaked shoes and placed them on the ground; as soon as the sole touched the floor, the marble started to show traces of water flowing through it.</p><p><em>This is loathsome! How can your classmates even consider having such a despicable behavior towards their peer?! </em>In the back of her mind, Robin Hood's complained with pure rage in his voice. Akechi sighed and stared sadly at the shoes, taking the ones she used for school and placing them back inside the locker. She didn't have a spare pair, so she had to go back home wearing these soaked ones. At least she could take a shower once she got home and change into some clean dry pair before going to work and to record the interview she had scheduled for that day.</p><p><em>You shouldn't brush off this kind of treatment, young one. It's awful. </em>Even Loki who was more fond to aggresion and cruelty than Robin Hood tried to stand for his wielder, but her only response was than silence. He was right though; even if Akechi was against the Phantom Thieves, this sort of behavior shouldn't be something for her to tolerate just like that. But then she remembered there were OTHER reasons that did make her deserve this kind of treatment, even if people weren't quite aware of them. </p><p>With a frown of annoyance, thanks to the wet sensation that invaded her feet as she placed them inside the shoes, Akechi walked to the school's entrance, trying to ignore the glances some students gave her while she left water prints on her path. Akechi moved her sight towards a group of girls which were giggling and pointing at her discretely. <em>Guess I found the culprits... </em>Akechi kept her eyes on the ground as she sped up her pace in an attempt to run away from all of it. </p><p>She was thankful that her shoes had at least dried enough to not leave prints or drip once she reached the station. The last thing she wanted was for other people aside of her classmates to stare at her with that judgmental look. Even so, her fast pacing she had when she left the school kept up, not looking back or at anywhere where there was a being with eyes. Shame and embarrassment weren't words strong enough to define her emotions at that moment. No one was saying anything during her train ride, no one spoke a word, but she could feel the invisible stares devouring her.</p><p>It wasn't easy to deal with it, no matter how used she had grown to be with these things. Akechi's life was based on how others thought of her, she used to find an immense satisfaction whenever she had the public cheer for her and speak so highly about her, to be loved by people. But the truth was she'd never experience that sensation; the public's support and "love"? She knew it was nothing but a fake, just as her detective princess façade and the Phantom Thieves had been the ones to prove so when they took down Medjed. As soon as something more popular and that suited the public's expectations appeared, the support and cheer she had acquired the past years vanished into nothing but dust, to be replaced with nothing more than disgust and hate, like how the classmates had acted with her. And no matter how used to it she was to it, the feeling of being hated and dismissed by others was still painful. </p><p>Arriving to her apartment managed to ease down her destructive thoughts and once she got her wet shoes and socks off and gave herself a hot shower, her body stopped being tense and finally relaxed. Once she came out of the shower a lot more calm and wearing a DRY pair of socks and shoes, the detective girl abandoned her apartment to head towards the Police Station.</p><p>Work was rather peaceful, and none of her superiors went nagging at her with another case, so she took some time at the station to study and do some of her homework. Soon came the time for her to go to the TV station to record a last minute arranged interview, though it didn't make her excited at all. The scheduled interview didn't go bad at all, it was just the classic, and almost automatic at this point, talk she had with the hosts about how she still didn't have solid information about the Phantom Thieves course of action and how they had to wait until they finally decided to make a move. However, the simpleness the interview had, didn't necessarily mean it wasn't draining for Akechi, who came out exhausted from it. Plus, the hosts were two supporters from the Phantom Thieves, so they took a few chances to try and push some of her buttons, though it didn't work at all. Her composure stood intact until the moment she stepped out of the TV station and sighed heavily in her exhaustion.</p><p>After that whole day of bothersome situations, only one thought was in her mind; Leblanc. She was in such need for a good cup of coffee and a plate of curry that she made sure to get to Yongen-Jaya as soon as she could. Leblanc was more than just a random café she visited by then; it was her escaping place. A place so simple, so calm and so relaxing in perfect contrast to her daily life, always filled with work and issues. It was just perfect.</p><p>Once she opened the door to the little café, all her problems, the shoe incident, the tiredness the interview left in her, ALL OF THAT seemed to be washed away in nothing more than the second her nose caught the pleasurable smell of coffee and curry. Just like usual, Leblanc was devoid of many costumers, being the barista the only person in the café. Said man turned his sight to the door and when he noticed who had just entered, his classic grin appeared on his face. "Welcome, Miss Akechi. Nice seeing you around. I guess I start preparing some Blue Mountain coffee."</p><p>"Ah, you know me so well Sakura-san~" A polite smile, natural from her detective princess mask, appeared on her lips as she walked up to the counter and took a seat at it.  "But I'm feeling rather stressed today, so please add to my order any plate of curry you recommend." </p><p>"Hard day for you, huh? Coming right up." The barista started to prepare Akechi's order as the latter laughed gently at Sojiro's words.</p><p>"Oh you have no idea, Sakura-san. Such is the case that I have this urge to escape my diet, and that NEVER happens." The detective giggled slightly while the barista raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "And if I'm going to give myself a luxury, then I wouldn't hesitate a single moment in coming over and enjoy your glorious curry!" This last phrase came out in a mixture of her detective mask and the real person behind the mask.</p><p>"Always happy to grant a good service." The barista did a few more things behind the counter, still wearing that joyful grin. After waiting a few minutes for the order to be ready, Sojiro placed Akechi's coffee and curry in front of her. "One Blue Mountain and a plate of the house special curry for the lady. Enjoy."</p><p>"Thank you very much." Akechi smiled as she gently picked up the cup and took a sip of the coffee. The cozy atmosphere, the acidity of the coffee, the sweet silence in the café; this was just heaven to Akechi. No people judging her, no colleagues nagging at her, no rude classmates that wanted to get back at her, nothing of the sort. Just herself along with an incredible cup of coffee and a glorious plate of curry. It was all so calm and relaxing that Akechi thought she would never get tired of it, and she most likely wouldn't do so. </p><p>And it was about to get even better; the sound of chimes warned of a person's presence in the café. Both the barista and the detective turned their gazes to identify the one who had just entered. Suddenly, a strange sensation of... completition invaded Akechi's heart. This particular warmth she had felt in just a few occasions returned to her body, causing her to unwillingly smile genuinely at the person who had entered the café.</p><p>"Welcome back~!"</p><p><br/>
                                  ------------------</p><p>Ren couldn't say his day was going as smoothly as he would've liked it to go, and this wasn't because of the hardcore hit he had received from Ushimaru's chalk that morning for spacing out in class... Okay, maybe that was a side reason, but the big main reason for his problems was another one.</p><p>Reasons that were more related to the Phantom Thieves. He didn't want for the others to know more than necessary, but the previous had been quite stressful for the raven. The group had encountered a mysterious persona user that was behind the mental shutdowns that wanted to warn them about a mortal trap that involved a dangerous group of people that would do everything in their power to take the Thieves out of the equation. Not only that, but they had to think on how to steal a treasure in the most discreet way so that the organization wouldn't know when to act against them. Oh, and there was also the fact that they were now working alongside the exact same person that they'd been trying to find since they first heard about them in Madarame's Palace. </p><p>Ren was pretty stressed with all the crap that had happened to his team the previous days, but he couldn't give himself the luxury of just show how much it impacted him, so he had to make as though his life hadn't changed at all. So just to get a hold of his routine, he would go to visit Takemi, to go through one of her special trials and see if he could get some more medicine for the team. But first he would at least go home and change into more comfortable clothing, and maybe he could try to convince Sojiro into fixing up some curry free of charge.</p><p>As Ren opened the entrance door to Leblanc, he found himself locking eyes with a particular someone sitting at the counter and wearing a wide smile of genuine happiness. A soft and gentle spark in her eyes cause the raven boy to crack a smile of his own as he waved at the smiling brunette, who giggled a little in response.</p><p>"Welcome back~!" The detective girl greeted Ren with a high pitch of voice, seemingly content with the raven's presence. The young teenager didn't move for what for him seemed like forever, having this weird sensation invading his body at the same moment Akechi greeted him. He felt so... relieved. He felt as though all the stress for any possible Phantom Thief business was fully washed away the moment he got processed the idea of Akechi being there, smiling and greeting him so joyfully.</p><p>"Well well, if it isn't the detective princess in the flesh, nice seeing you here." The raven walked up to the counter and took a seat right next to Akechi, resting his chin on the palm of his right hand. "Might be me, but you seem to be in quite a good mood today Goro-chan. Anything good happened?"</p><p>The detective placed her left index on her chin and puffed one of her cheeks up, imitating a thought position. "Mmmmmm..." The girl shook her head and gave Ren a smile. "Nothing interesting really happened, but my day wasn't that agitated and that has me in quite a good mood!" Akechi then picked up her coffee and brought it closer to her mouth. "Not only that, but I get to finish this afternoon with a great cup of coffee and a plate of curry, so I guess that also has me quite happy."</p><p>Ren chuckled, seemingly amused by Akechi's good attitude. "I'm very happy to see that your taste in coffee and curry hasn't changed a single bit, and know that you're always welcome here." The words came out so smoothly that the raven didn't quite realize the effect they had on Akechi. Said girl smiled a little while staring down at the brown steaming liquid in her cup.</p><p>"Thanks. To be honest, I hoped I would have many more days like this, so calm and relaxing..." The detective kept staring down at the liquid while Ren poked her right arm gently, wearing a reassuring smile on his lips.</p><p>"Don't worry princess, I'm sure that calmer days will come eventually, you just need to be patient." The raven's sudden poke caused Akechi to turn her eyes to him, stare at him for a couple of seconds and then giggle while taking a sip of her coffee.</p><p>"Your positivity is really appreciated Ren. If I have to be COMPLETELY honest..." the detective sighed a little, giving Ren some hints of her exhaustion. "Everywhere I've been lately I hear complaints. Be it at work from my colleagues, at school from my classmates, all people have been doing recently is complain about many different things. Hearing you say such positive words gives me a nice change of pace, so thank you!" The detective's expression shifted into a more positive one as she gave Ren a big smile. </p><p>The raven stared at Akechi for a good amount of seconds, causing the girl to tense up in concern. "Uhm, did I perhaps say something bad? If so I-" The detective was cut off almost instantly when Ren was pulled back to the real world as she shook his head.</p><p>"No no, nothing of the sort! It's just... I'm very surprised by your change of attitude. I mean, back at the hotel you sort of started to act differently during the third day, but I never thought my positivism would start to rub off on you so quickly."</p><p>                                     ---------------</p><p>He was right. Damn he was right. It hit Akechi like a strike with a kilogram weighted fish right onto her face. She wasn't really aware at first on how lose her tongue was when she spoke those words, but when Ren pointed out the previous behavior she had during their time at the hotel, Akechi became self-conscious of the things she'd said. Not that she didn't mean them, they were most likely the most genuine feelings she could have! It was just... surprising, like Ren had described. Being closed on her own self was an attitude Ren had seen a lot more in her than her most natural attitude, so of course he would be surprised by the view of her acting so differently.</p><p>In the back of her mind, Robin Hood was chuckling along with Loki, both quite amused by the way the raven's words had triggered Akechi. The detective girl's cheeks started to light up in a shade of red as she pushed some strings of her hair behind her ear. Her eyes were averted from the raven and a sheepish smile appeared on her lips. "A-Ah... Is that really the case? I hadn't realized, I just spoke what I thought without really putting much thought to my words." </p><p>The detective's shoulders tensed up and her eyes went back at the raven but this time she wore a, in Ren's words, 'quite adorable' pout on her face. "In my defense though, you told me I should do it more often, so I expect no complaints from you!"</p><p>Ren couldn't hold in his snorting and ended up laughing loudly, earning himself a light punch onto his arm from Akechi. "Who ever said I was complaining about it?! I know I was the one who said it!" The raven's laughter became more of a giggle as his eyes focused back on Akechi. "It's something really nice, so I hope I get to see it more often." His giggling kept on while his lips stayed curled into a smile.</p><p>The detective stared at him for a moment before her gaze landed on the liquid inside her cup. Even with how frustrated the smug attitude Ren had made her, the detective couldn't help but feel a certain joy to it. The familiarity Akechi felt at that moment made her come to a certain realization; she enjoyed it. She enjoyed seeing Ren look so lively, she enjoyed seeing him keep that smug smirk on his face, she enjoyed how naturally kindhearted he was despite his teasing. She wanted him to stay that way... To never really change the person he was. Even if it sounded a somewhat selfish desire, that was all the detective could really ask for; for Ren to keep being the amazing person she'd become friends with. </p><p>Would it be weird if she asked it out loud though? To say <em>please never change the way you are </em>just like that? The words were so simple to speak, yet so hard for them to actually come true. People are always changing after all, and those changes are what make people unique on their own. But how much would Ren change if he eventually had to? Once his probation ended, what would happen to that sweet kindhearted man that offered his hand to her when she most needed it? She was... afraid of him losing the essence that made him so wonderful. She didn't want him to stop smiling, to stop living his life, she wanted him to fly through the sky freely with no obstacle. Even if he had to change eventually in a distant future, she would so whatever she could to keep that smile on him.</p><p>The detective's lips quivered and her grip on the cup tightened up just a little bit, before a natural smile started to form on her lips. <em>If that's what it takes to see you happy... </em>"I'm sure you'll see me like this more often, trust me." Akechi finally spoke up to Ren and took the final sip of her coffee, placing it a few centimeters away to focus on her curry, taking a bite of her plate.</p><p>"I'm glad to hear that." The raven offered Akechi one more smile before he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. As he took it out to check who it was, his eyes widened up, and he got up quickly from his seat. "Shit." The raven turned his apologetic eyes to Akechi. "Look, I'd love to stay with you longer Goro-chan, but I've got other plans for today, and I'm actually running late. Excuse me!" The raven ran up the stairs to the café's attic, perhaps to change into some more comfortable clothing.</p><p>No more than a few instants later, the raven haired boy returned back down, wearing his casual black jacket over a gray shirt and his blue jeans. "I was going to have some curry myself, but that'll have to wait until tonight." Ren started walking up to the door but stopped halfway to look back at Akechi. "We should hang around again sometime, yeah? Does a game of chess sound good to you?" </p><p>The detective nodded and a cheerful smile appeared on her lips. "Sure, that sounds wonderful! I'll be looking forward to it, Ren. Although, don't expect me to go easy on you if we play together." Akechi chuckled into her left hand with slight amusement, causing Ren to raise one of his eyebrows.</p><p>"Oh, and I hope you won't underestimate too much and leave a hole for me to crush you mercilessly." Oh, that really hit a button in Akechi. The detective's eyes widened up, but before Akechi could even think of countering his comment, Ren waved his hand dismissively. "But that's a thing for another time, don't get too wrapped up in it~ Stress is the enemy of beauty after all, isn't it~? Just relax and enjoy your meal."</p><p>"Ha ha, I will do so, thank you very much." The detective rolled her eyes and took one of the last bites of her curry, as a sad smile appeared on her lips. "Ah, it's so delicious... I hope I get to try every single blend of coffee and plate of curry this café has before my death..." The café grew silent almost instantly, causing Akechi to tense up when she realized how much she'd messed up in speaking up the words out loud unintended.</p><p>Ren was just about to turn around when he heard Akechi's words and a small glimpse of concern appeared in his eyes. "Hey c'mon, we were all pumped up and positive. Why would you say something like that Goro-chan?"</p><p><em>Because it's true, duh.</em> Akechi didn't intend to speak up these thoughts, but that didn't mean they were coming out of nowhere. Once the conspiracy was destroyed and all the organization members were taken down, what would be left for her? Perpetual sentence? The death penalty? Akechi believed it would be the latter; she had taken so many peoples lives and the option of the death penalty was the most likely one to happen in the end.</p><p>But she felt completely stupid when she realized she had concerned Ren; the last thing in the world she wanted to do was to make him worried about her. <em>No no no don't, smile, please, I beg you don't be like that!</em> She had to correct her mistake, so she shook her head and laughed a little nervously. "A-Ah no please I didn't mean it to sound so depressing! I just meant they're a lot of different blends and curries that I hope a lifetime will be enough to try them all out!" </p><p>Akechi could feel the air returning to her lungs when she saw Ren's lips form into a smile, visibly more relaxed. But as soon as it arrived it was replaced by his classic cocky smirk. "Well you better finish up with Boss' blends, because you still haven't tried my coffee. And even if it's not Sojiro's coffee, I can assure you I'm no longer a novice!" Ren placed a hand on his chest in a somewhat dramatic pose.</p><p>The detective crossed one leg over another before raising an eyebrow. "Oh, so that means I have even more combinations to try out? Very well Ren, I accept your offer. I'm looking forward to trying out your coffee some day in the future." Akechi offered one big smile and a wink of her right eye, to which Ren winked an eye of his own.</p><p>"And I look forward to serving you some day, princess." The raven then walked up to the door and turned his head to Akechi one last time. "Anyways, I should get going now, it was really nice seeing you Goro-chan, have a good day! See you later Boss!" And with a waving hand, Ren abandoned the café, leaving Akechi and Sojiro on their own.</p><p>The café was silent the moment Ren went away. Akechi was taking small bites of her curry with the smile she had previously unwilling to abandon her lips. The moment was just perfect... She didn't quite know why it felt like this; perhaps this was how friends felt when they helped each other? Perhaps it was just the sensation of making someone she cared about so much smile so brightly? She tried to find some sort of logical explanation to it, but there didn't seem to be any. It was just... </p><p>"Huh... Who would've thought." The barista mumbled and chuckled slightly while doing stuff behind the counter. This got him a confused look from Akechi, who innocently raised an eyebrow at the old man.</p><p>"Hm? What do you mean Sakura-san? Is something the matter?" Asked the detective girl with slight confusion and intrigue at what had been the source of Sojiro's amusement.</p><p>"I mean, I expected the kid to have... particular tastes, but I can't deny that he gave me one hell of a surprise with this." As the barista spoke, Akechi's confusion grew larger and larger. What did he mean? 'Particular tastes'? 'Hell of a surprise'? Just what was he trying to say?</p><p>"U-Uhm forgive me Sakura-san, but I am not sure I follow your train of thought... What are you trying to say with all this?" The detective had become completely lost in whatever Sojiro was implying. The barista rose up his gaze from his work at the counter, wearing his classic grin and a rose eyebrow.</p><p>"You're seriously telling me you don't notice?" The detective kept silence, expecting Sojiro to finally spit whatever he had to. The old man sighed heavily before pushing up his glasses. "The kid is obviously into you." </p><p> <em>... What ...? </em>Sojiro's sudden statement left Akechi speechless for a moment, but sooner than later an intense heat began to spread through her face as her cheeks started to get tainted in a scarlet colour. <em>My... This is certainly a peculiar thing to hear. </em>The Robin Hood side of her spoke in the depths of her mind, being followed up by a <em>Huh... </em>from Loki, as she swallowed up some saliva. Even if Sojiro's words were obvious, she still made one futile attempt to twist their meaning. "U-Uhm by 'into you' y-you would mean..." The words died before they could leave her throat, but it was enough for the barista to chuckle.</p><p>"He likes you. In fact, he likes you so much that it's hard to watch." The old man allowed a short laugh to escape his lips, before Akechi's face turned completely red and started to wave her hands defensively. This time, there was no mask that could protect her.</p><p>"S-Sakura-san I'm p-pretty sure you're misunderstanding the situation! R-Ren and I are nothing more than g-good friends what you're saying is-" </p><p>"Not what you think, huh?" Akechi's body tensed up a little when Sojiro cut her off, still wearing that smirk on his face. "Trust me lady, he's really interested in you. You know, I've seen the kid act in many different ways when he first arrived here, but something caught my eye yesterday when he talked to you. When you two spoke together I could see this spark of fascination in his eyes... It's the same spark I had when I first met and talked with Wakaba." The old man's lips curled into a nostalgic smile. "Ah, I was quite the ladies man when I was younger, but right when I met her I knew that was the woman I wanted to live and spend the rest of my life with. You actually remind me of her quite a bunch, y'know?"</p><p><em>L-Living with Ren...?! </em>Akechi's face somehow turned more red than it already was and her temperature grew stronger when that thought crossed her mind. Waking up every day and have that sweet kindhearted man sleeping next to her, hug him tight and just stare at his sleeping face- <em>DAMMIT, WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?!</em> The girl shook her head frantically, doing everything in her power to push those thoughts away.</p><p>No matter how nice and beautiful that sounded, there was no way in hell that could happen! She didn't deserve such a wonderful thing in her life... More importantly, Akechi reminded Sojiro of Wakaba? That was just stupid! Wakaba was a brilliant scientist with incredible capabilities and an amazing future as a researcher, while Akechi was the whole opposite of her. Before Akechi could even think of a response, Sojiro kept speaking.</p><p>"And I'm sorry if I'm wrong about this, but you seem to have something happening with him too. I know I could just be assuming, but these times when I've seen you interact with each other, you both look so... How can I describe it properly?" The old man crossed his arms and tapped on the side of his glasses a little. "Free? Heh, I seriously don't know if that's it, you two just seem different." </p><p>Free... What a perfect adjective to describe how Ren made her feel. Were these feelings natural of liking someone? She didn't know the answer to that, but she couldn't deny that it was true Ren made her feel so free. Nothing mattered; she couldn't care less of Shido's orders, the police station and the stress of her work meant shit and her classmates could very well just go fuck themselves. That's how she felt whenever she got the chance to see that boy smile so lively, to fall victim of his teasing, to hear him refer to her with her first name. Every time they spoke, a sudden warmth and comfort invaded her heart and anything else in the world didn't matter. But was this all really something so definitive like love? The only person that ever treated her with compassion and sweetness was Ren, and she had no other friends, so she couldn't quite know if a result of a crush or just the product of a good friendship. But with her luck though... </p><p>"That kid can be a pain in the ass sometimes when he acts cocky, but he's too far from being bad. And after all that he's been through... It's really nice to see him like that." The old man's tone became a mixture between sadness and sweetness. "Back then, I did everything in order to get Wakaba's attention. I listened to hear speak so passionately about her research and how much she wanted to change the world with it. Everytime she would manage to charm me even more with her smartness and passion, and to that I would try even harder to get her with me. Heh, I was so desperate that I would throw any topic into conversation just so for her to keep her attention on me. But no matter how much I tried, I never managed to settle a relationship with her, so I eventually gave up and stayed just as friends." The eyes of the old man reflected an immense and sudden pain. "And no more than a few months later, she passed away... I felt destroyed and angry towards life for taking something so precious away from me, as if being her friend was already too much for me to wish for. Now, all old as you see me, I don't think I could ever get to love anyone as I did Wakaba. She was truly... the one, y'know?"</p><p><em>Don't. Please, stop, don't cry. Please don't!!! </em>Akechi yelled at herself internally, practically begging for her eyes to not betray her. She could practically feel her heart being torn into pieces as she heard the man speak about her relationship with her victim. Akechi had taken from Sojiro something that no amount of time could ever heal or bring back; true love. Not just the love in a romantic way, but that true love that you feel for someone that meant life to you, just like she had loved her own mother. <em>What kind of a monster am I...? </em>The worst kind for sure. Because of her, this man had lost the only person he'd genuinely loved with his whole heart. She couldn't even bring herself to look at Sojiro who wasn't finished yet.</p><p>"The kid's a lot smarter than I was back then and... You both seem to feel something similar for each other. I know this may sound hard to do coming from an old man like me, but take it as advice from someone who's doubted too much and done too little: grasp to those feelings. You never know what will happen in the future, but the present is right here right now, and in the present I can see that spark between you two. He may not be fully aware that you're a celebrity and a pretty famous woman that surely many men look forward to, and that kid is one hell of a guy when it comes to speak to ladies, so he could as well have women that are interested in him. But no matter what, when those feelings are reciprocal, there's no other force that can go against them." The old man closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "But this is just my advice as an old guy, you can take it or leave it. Just make sure to not leave any regrets on your relationship in the future."</p><p>Could this be all true? Did they both feel something so strong for each other as Isshiki and Sojiro did once? It was all so confusing and frustrating to think about, she could practically feel the tears trying to burst out of her eyes due to the massive tornado of emotions. "S-Sakura-san... I-I don't... I..." the words just wouldn't come out, no matter how hard she tried. Her eyes shut tightly and her lips formed a tight line, hiding her gritting teeth. "I-!" </p><p>Whatever Akechi was about to say was abruptly interrupted by the sound of Leblanc's door opening up, giving Akechi a moment to stop the forming tears. "Sojirooooooooo~~!" There was Futaba Sakura, bursting into the café wearing a big smile on her face. But as soon as she noticed Akechi's presence she froze in her spot and the smile she had vanished into a shy expression. Luckily though, Futaba's arrival allowed Akechi to put a halt to her bursting emotions and cool down a little. </p><p>"Huh? Hey Futaba, what do you need?" The old man's focus went to Futaba, leaving Akechi's attempt to say 'something' in oblivion. </p><p>The ginger haired girl looked warily at Akechi for a few seconds before taking timid steps to the counter and held her both hands behind her back shyly. "U-Uhm you see, there's this anime DVD special sale at Akihabara and I really really wanna get it. I asked Ren to come over with me, but he said he was busy and I thought maybe you could take me there..." </p><p>The old man grunted and shook his head slightly. "I'm sorry Futaba, I would come with you, but I need to buy some supplies for tomorrow. I can take you another day though."</p><p>Futaba pouted and threw her hands to her sides in a desperate complaint. "B-But the sale is only today...!" The poor girl gave her adoptive father the best excuse of puppy eyes she could manage, but the old man just sighed.</p><p>"Listen, I don't mind buying it for the full price anoth-" </p><p>"I can go with her." The joining of a third voice caused both of the Sakura's gazes to dart to the owner of that voice. Akechi just blurted out her offer and felt somewhat tense when the eyes of Sojiro and his adoptive daughter darted at her. "U-Uhm I mean if that's okay with both of you, I have no problems in taking her to Akihabara."</p><p>Futaba stared for a moment before furrowing her brows slightly. "Y-You wanna take me there? Why though...?" It was obvious that Akechi hadn't let a good first impression on Futaba.</p><p>"Well maybe it has to do with the fact that unlike Ren and Sakura-san, I'm not occupied at the moment and have enough free time to go with you." The detective's eyes darted to Sojiro. "Is that okay with you, Sakura-san?"</p><p>"I should be asking you that lady. You sure you wanna go with Futaba?" Sojiro rubbed the back of his neck and started speaking with a lower tone of voice. "She can be a little... hard to deal with sometimes."</p><p>"Of course Sakura-san! I'm totally sure about it." The detective for once gave Sojiro one of her natural smiles, with no detective façade on it. This made Sojiro relax a little as his lips curled into a smirk and nodded gratefully.</p><p>"Alright, thanks for helping out. Be careful out there and please take care of Futaba while you're at Akihabara." Akechi nodded and the barista chuckled. "I'm pretty sure the kid will be very grateful too if you take good care of Futaba y'know? That will earn you some points in favor."</p><p>Futaba looked quizzically at Akechi, whose cheeks had puffed up in a shade of red when the barista spoke. And then, realization hit her as her eyes widened up. "W-Whaaaaaat?! You're interested in Ren?! I do not approve any of this!!" Futaba started to shake her head rapidly and stomping her foot on the floor while her arms were placed on an X in front of her.</p><p>"Urgh stop that, it's nothing of the sort all right?" Akechi glared at Futaba who went quiet to then turn her eyes to Sojiro and place some money on the counter. "Thank you for the meal, it was delicious." Once Sojiro gave her a nod, the detective turned and gave Futaba a little smile. "So, how about we get going Futaba-chan?" </p><p>Futaba didn't respond at all, only following her from behind as they abandoned Leblanc. Akechi couldn't really judge Futaba for disliking her the way she did, since she had more than enough reasons to do so. Still, Akechi felt like she finally had a chance to do some good for Futaba, even if it was something as trivial as accompanying her somewhere she wanted to go.</p><p>But this plan would turn out to be more difficult than expected. After they went out of Leblanc and walked a few steps to the station, Futaba stopped her pacing. Akechi turned around and tilted her head to a side. "Is something the matter Futaba-chan?" No response... "Uhm, Futaba-chan-"</p><p>"Why are you doing this?" Futaba cut off Akechi quite abruptly with a voice that held a certain shyness mixed with annoyance in it.</p><p>"Uhm... I don't really have a reason. I have time and I thought it would be nice to accompany you." Answered the detective to which Futaba only looked up at her warily.</p><p>"Why? What's your game in all this? What are you trying to accomplish here?" Futaba asked with her brows furrowing slightly, trying to find some second motive for Akechi's kindness.</p><p>It wasn't that illogical for her to seek for ulterior motives though. During the first time Akechi had appeared at Leblanc, she'd pushed some of Futaba's buttons by mentioning her mother and trying to indirectly get some information of the Phantom Thieves out of her. Now though? Akechi just wanted to help her because she wanted to, not because she wanted to ask her about the Thieves or her mother. In some way, she had agreed to take Futaba to Akihabara with the intention of understanding what moved Ren and his group to help others so selflessly.</p><p>"Like I just said, I'm not in a rush to do anything else and count with a good amount of free time, so I thought that I could spend it in something more productive. Is that enough reason for you, Futaba-chan?" The detective gave Futaba a small reassuring smile, though it was far from having a real effect on her. Futaba sighed and shook her head.</p><p>"Alright, fine I'll go along with this for now. But you must fulfill my challenge!" The little girl pointed a finger at Akechi. "I dare you to not mention or try to talk about the Phantom Thieves from now on and until you bring me back!"</p><p>The detective stared at Futaba for a few seconds before allowing an amused laughter to escape her mouth. "Ah I see! So this is about that, huh?" The laughter turned into soft giggles. "I'm sorry if my question from back then made you uncomfortable, it really wasn't my intention. If it makes you more comfortable, then I'll not bring any controversial topics up!" The detective extended her hand and offered a smile to Futaba. "Sounds good?"</p><p>For a moment, Futaba stared warily at Akechi's hand, showing no sign of actually shaking it. But just before Akechi decided to pull her hand back, Futaba took it and shook it with her own. "A-Alright..."</p><p>And with this little agreement, Akechi and Futaba left for the station. The whole ride in the train was plainly uncomfortable; the train wagon they were both at was extremely packed, and they had to travel practically sticked to each other. Still, Futaba did her best to just ignore the fact Akechi was even there with her, focusing in listening to music with her headphones. </p><p>Things became slightly better when they reached Akihabara though. Akechi had known about this famous electrical district, but work, school and the metaverse always kept her from visiting it. This place wasn't just known for its incredible offer of electronic devises, but also a lot of stores that had really good superhero products, such as non translated comics, mangas and a lot of DVDs that were highly difficult to find by conventional means. Sadly, Akechi didn't count with too much money... Well, it isn't that she couldn't have it, but she wholeheartedly refused to get any dirty money Shido would offer her. Of course, she would just politely refuse and say she could live with the amount she earned from her detective work. As for the money in Mementos, that wasn't possible thanks to a stupid move from her.</p><p>When she was just starting to familiarize with the Metaverse and learn its effects on the real world, Akechi made the mistake of telling Shido her escapades to Mementos gave her certain amounts of money. As to be expected from someone like Shido, he created a special bank account on a tax haven, forcing Akechi to give him the absurd quantity of ninety-six percent of the money she got in the Metaverse after a request. And since Akechi didn't use to go to the cognitive world, aside of the times Shido asked her to do so, every time she came out of it she was asked to donate all the money she got to Shido's campaign founds. If Akechi would've just kept her mouth shut when she first approached Shido, she could've thought of a way to keep the money secret to him, but lo behold that wasn't the case. Maybe things would be different after the Okumura trap was over? She didn't quite know, but she didn't make too much out of the Metaverse anyway and combining it with her detective earnings didn't make it any bigger.</p><p>Still though, she found it quite pleasant to walk through Akihabara and look at diverse stores that appeared to sell the comic books she'd read and movies she'd seen when she was a child. It gave her a certain sensation of nostalgia. The walking kept on until Akechi and Futaba stopped at DVD store. As they both entered, they noticed that the store wasn't so packed, but there were still a few people before them, so they took a seat at two chairs near the entrance to wait.</p><p>Once they were both seated, Futaba started to take deep breaths, earning a raising eyebrow from Akechi. "Okay... Calm down... Remember, it's a clerk and you just gotta ask for what you want..." the young girl mumbled and when she saw the last costumer abandon the store, she stood up from her chair. She turned to Akechi. "Wait here, I'll be done in a bit."</p><p>"Sure, I'll hold." The detective nodded and Futaba went directly to the counter, seemingly ready to ask for what she came for.</p><p>The young woman behind the counter smiled brightly at Futaba. "Good afternoon and welcome to Streamex! How can I help you today?" And as soon as the clerk spoke, Futaba froze on her place, with no signs of moving.</p><p><em>Uhm, anyone knows what's wrong with her? She doesn't seem to be okay.</em> Loki asked inside of Akechi's mind while the detective stared at Futaba who had just frozen there without saying a word.</p><p><em>It would appear she's having a certain difficulty in her quest. Do you think we should help her m'lady? </em>The Robin Hood inside of her asked, to which the detective really didn't know what to answer. Why would Futaba suddenly freeze up when before she had a lot of confidence? It just didn't make any sense! <em>Should I get up and help her? But she told me to stay here and wait... </em>The detective bit her lower lip, conflicted by the situation that was happening in front of her.</p><p>Suddenly, Akechi noticed how Futaba's hands started to shake behind her back along with her shoulders, which caused Akechi to finally break and stand up from her seat. <em>Urgh dammit I can't watch this any more I have to help her!</em> Akechi walked up to the counter and placed a gentle hand on Futaba's shoulder, who turned her head rapidly to see who'd just appeared behind her. "What is it Futaba-chan? Is something wrong?" The detective asked softly, to which Futaba just stared at her garnet eyes. Akechi's lips curled into a smile, in an attempt to comfort the young girl. "Go on, tell the miss what you came to buy." </p><p>The clerk turned to Akechi, seemingly surprised by her sudden appearance. For some reason, this girl was familiar to her, but she couldn't really tell why. However, she didn't put much thought to it because her attention went back to Futaba, whose gaze had turned once more to face the clerk, with her cheeks flushed in a red color. "F...F-Feather..." The words tried to come out of her mouth, but she really wasn't able to speak them properly and her gaze fell to the ground in shame.</p><p>The clerk frowned a little. What could this girl possibly be looking for? Suddenly, her eyes widened up in realization. "Oh! Are you perhaps here for the Featherman Neo DVD box sale? I've received many clients today looking for it!" The clerk smiled again at Futaba, who stood there with her gaze lowered, giving no response for some seconds. At last, she nodded confirming the clerk's guess.</p><p>Once Futaba took the needed sum of money out of her pocket and gave it to the clerk, the latter gave her a plastic bag that contained a box with three DVDs cases in it. After they abandoned the store, the two of them walked together to the station, but for some reason the young girl didn't say a single word to Akechi, as if she had become angry at her. </p><p>Why would Futaba be angry at her though? She'd just come to help her, and she was clearly needing it! Had Akechi done something wrong? "Uhm Futaba-chan, are you okay?" There was no response from the girl, who just kept on walking beside her. Once they were a few blocks away from reaching the station, Futaba stopped walking, causing Akechi to stop her own pace and turn around to look at her. </p><p>"Futaba-chan...? Is something wrong-" The detective was abruptly cut off by Futaba, who was waving her arms rapidly while loudly whining.</p><p>"Ahhhhh!!! I can't believe I failed my mission!!" Futaba said, seemingly angry at how the situation at the store had turned out. This caused Akechi to take a step back, confused by Futaba's sudden change of attitude.</p><p>"H-Huh?! What do you mean?!" The detective spoke nervous and confused by all this situation. Did she do something to make Futaba mad?</p><p>"I was so determined to get this DVDs on my own without any help!! And I couldn't do it, I failed, and you had to step up for me...!!" Was this the problem? But why?? Hadn't she gotten what she wanted in the end?</p><p>" I-I don't understand what you mean Futaba-chan, you got the DVDs you wanted, so what's the issue?" This was just too much to take in for the detective, who had her hands raised in a defensive position.</p><p>"I did get them, but still all that went horrible!! I froze up again and wasn't able to even say what I wanted to get! The clerk was the one to guess it!!" Futaba gripped the handle of the bag she carried with both of her hands tightly as her gaze lowered slightly. "I was hoping I could purchase these without freezing up... It always happens whenever I have to talk with someone; I get nervous and the words won't come out at all..."</p><p>"O-Oh..." Akechi was very surprised and hadn't expect this. Before, she thought that Futaba disliked her because of her pushy attitude and her constant comments on the Phantom Thieves. Not to mention that in the Metaverse she was very talkative and an incredible navigator! Futaba having this kind of problem with people was something she'd not expect, and it made her feel rather bad for not noticing. "So you suffer from social anxiety? I didn't know..."</p><p>Futaba tensed up for a moment but eventually nodded in confirmation. "I honestly try. I try as hard as I can, preparing myself mentally for each occasion I'm going to talk with another person, telling myself that this is what normal people do and that I shouldn't be scared, but in the end I mess up the moment I open my mouth. I freeze up, my palms get all sweaty, my voice starts to fail, sentences die in my throat, any idea I had in my mind turns into a mess, I have blackouts the moments I want to speak and so on. When I came here, I prepared both in the train ride and inside the store when it was finally time, but when the moment of truth came, the clerk was the one to speak while I didn't." Futaba stared at the ground with sad eyes and the grip on the handle became tighter. "Truth be told, I wasn't really good with people before either, but having my mom around made it a lot easier to interact with others. But now that she's gone, it's just been so hard for me to actually talk to people again and the only thing I do is mess up... To be honest, sometimes I'm afraid I will never overcome this, and I'll be stuck with this problem forever..."</p><p>At that moment, everything froze for Akechi. There was no other feeling in her heart aside of the massive pain and fear that it caused her facing the incarnation of her mistakes. Futaba Sakura, the girl who was standing right in front of her, was the representation of everything that she'd done wrong in her life. No, this wasn't all. <em>She's just like me... </em>That was what broke Akechi's heart the most; she perfectly knew what it was like to be left alone with no one else in the world, and she was insensitive and cruel enough to pass on that loneliness and pain onto another person. Futaba was afraid, scarred and, just before she joined the Phantom Thieves, all alone. Could the wound in her heart heal? Could Akechi really bring some ease to that pain? No, she was the monster who caused it! But at the same time, a part of her wanted to help her heal it all away. </p><p>"... Now you're just scaring me too." Was the only phrase that managed to come out of the detective. After a few seconds and realizing the stupid thing she'd said out of nowhere, Akechi's eyes widened up.</p><p><br/>
"Huh? What do you mean...?" The ginger haired girl's gaze lifted to look at Akechi, whose eyes had become just as sad as Futaba's. "Akechi...?" </p><p>"A-Ah... Sorry, I just didn't know what to say and..." The detective passed a hand through her forehead and discreetly through her face, to wipe some gentle tears that tried to escape her eyes. "I-I wanted to say something to comfort you, now that you need it, but I screw up and spoke up something stupid." A soft laughter escaped her mouth. "See? You're not the only one who messes up at important moments..." The detective took in a deep breath and exhaled. That moment made Akechi realize how easy it had been for her to speak whatever others wanted to hear. It would be so easy to speak the comfort words just for the sake of it, but truthfully, Akechi didn't know what to do in that situation. Futaba was aching, and it was her fault. What kind of comfort words could a monster like her say to one of her victims? "I don't really know what to say to comfort you. I know your problem isn't so simple and that it must be really hard for you to handle, but I don't have a solution to it. The only thing I can do now is... apologize for what I did. I mean, I wasn't aware of your issue, and you were trying to accomplish something incredibly brave like overcoming said issue on your own, but then I saw you freeze up at the store and I got worried, so I just wanted to help you. But in that process I stopped you from achieving something really important to you, so you have the right to be angry at me for it... I'm sorry, Futaba-chan." </p><p>Futaba stared at Akechi for a moment with her eyes wide as if the sudden apology had taken her aback. After a few instants, she sighed and shook her head. "No, please don't apologize for that... I'm not angry at you at all, Akechi, and what you did isn't a reason for me to be. You helped me back there, and it wasn't wrong! At least you gave me some courage to look up at the clerk before breaking down again. Still, I can't help but feel... frustrated with myself, y'know?" Futaba's eyes fell to the ground. None of them said a word for a brief moment... Akechi felt like she HAD to say something, though. Not fake words, something real.</p><p>"Still, uhm I think you're looking at this from the wrong perspective, Futaba-chan." Akechi's sudden words caused Futaba to look up at her. "Think about it this way; you came to Akihabara, one of the most crowded districts in the city of Tokyo and you got those DVDs in the end. Sure I was there next to you when you did, but you were the one to actually go and purchase them on your own merit! Not only that, but in the process you opened up to me about a very deep and personal problem..." The detective offered Futaba a sweet smile. "I believe we can call that some good progress, don't you think so?" </p><p>Futaba just stared into Akechi's garnet eyes before her gaze fell to the ground. Suddenly, as a final response, she gave Akechi a gentle nod with a timid confirmation. "M-Mhm..." Even if it was something so simple as that, Akechi considered it a small victory and hoped that her words had at least helped Futaba change her point of view a little.</p><p>"Well then, it's getting quite late. Shall we head back?" Once the ginger haired girl nodded again, the two of them proceeded to get to the train to Shibuya. </p><p>This time, the train ride wasn't precisely uncomfortable. Just silent, with both of the girls focused on their own thing, being for Akechi her phone while Futaba had her music. However, after some short minutes of their trip, Akechi recalled what Futaba had purchased at the shop. With a huge curiosity and a bit of nostalgia, Akechi eyed into Futaba's bag, causing the latter to notice her sudden approach and take her headphones off.</p><p>"Featherman huh..." The detective giggled a little before pulling herself to stand back up straight. "That brings me back, I remember when I used to watch that show."</p><p>"Huh...? You watched it before?" Akechi managed to finally piqued Futaba's curiosity, which left Akechi with a chance to strike up some conversation. The detective girl smirked a bit and leaned closer with a playful look in her garnet eyes.</p><p>"Can I tell you a little secret, Futaba-chan?" The ginger haired girl gave Akechi a weird look before nodding. Akechi looked to each side before leaning even closer and practically whisper to Futaba's ear. "I don't lie when I tell you I watched Featherman every single day." The detective pulled back, still with that playful smirk on her lips, leaving Futaba with her eyes wide open and her jaw almost touching the floor.</p><p>"Whaaaaaaaaat? Seriously? You gotta be lying, there's no way!" Futaba's attitude shifted a little, seemingly more relaxed than before they entered the train. <em>Score for Goro, hah!</em></p><p>Akechi giggled slightly before placing a firm hand on her chest. "I swear on the wings of justice." Futaba's sudden gasp made Akechi felt quite satisfied, and she started telling how she got to meet the show. "You see Futaba-chan, something that no one really knows about me is that, despite my work as a detective, I'm quite fond with superheroes. Such was my love for superheroes that, when I was younger, my mom would save up money for my birthdays just to buy me a comic book or a superhero movie that had caught my eye whenever we went out together. I've always had a certain preference for western heroes, although that never stopped me from LOVING Featherman. In fact, watching the show became a part of my routine after my mother... passed away. When she died, I moved to a certain foster home that..." The detective's lips curled into a sad smile. "Well, to put it simply it was awful to live there. The family that took me in wanted to do nothing with me and just adopted me to gain some extra money from the foster plan. However, I always had a very special moment each of the days I lived at that house; every time I could grab the remote and watch the new Phoenix Rangers Featherman. I would run back from school and watch the new episode, just to end up being excited the whole evening about the next one that would be aired the following day. But like I said, I never told anyone how I enjoyed the show and as a consequence, I never had anyone to discuss the show with, and well, the kids at school made fun of whoever liked Featherman, so it was kind of hard to open up to other kids about something that most called a 'preschooler thing.'"</p><p>Futaba grunted and nodded in agreement. "I totally feel you, urgh! The same thing happened to me! Kids in middle school would make fun of me just because I liked Featherman, saying stuff like 'Hoho, only preschoolers watch stuff like that, grow up!' Like seriously, why would they think that?! It's an enjoyable show no matter how old you are!" Futaba nodded aggressively, but her body became tense again and her voice lowered down a bit as she asked. "Do you... still like it? I mean, do you still like Featherman like you used to back then?"</p><p>Akechi sighed heavily and closed her eyes, being silent for a moment. Then, she answered. "I honestly wouldn't know. My liking for superheros hasn't changed that much, but with that show things are a bit... complicated. On one side, Featherman brought a lot of good moments into my life and brought a smile onto me countless times, but at the same time it has become a reminder of some of my hardest times when I was a child. When I left that foster home, I stopped following the show, which has suffered some iterations ever since, and since I never revisited it I can't really tell you what feelings I have towards the show now..." Akechi kept her sad smile on her lips. </p><p>Futaba, who listened to Akechi's words closely, placed her free index finger on her chin as if she was lost in thought. Then, she turned her gaze once more to the detective. "Did you have a favourite episode back then?" That was the only question the ginger haired girl asked after being lost for some seconds.</p><p>The detective girl frowned and tried the hardest she could to recall the episode she'd enjoyed the most as a kid. "Mmmm... It was... Urgh, dammit I can't remember the name of the episode! What I recall the most is that the crew were infiltrating a submarine base...? Maybe? Oh yeah, and halfway through they had to face an important enemy that was a pretty big deal. Urgh who was it again?!" Akechi snapped her fingers multiple times trying to recall, but Futaba nodded apparently knowing the episode she was referring to.</p><p>"Yes, I know that one!" Akechi turned her widened eyes to Futaba, who wore a big grin on her lips. "'Unexpected Cataclysm, The Neo Ranger's Ultimate Showdown Starts!' That one belongs to the aquatic birds' arc and was actually one of the ending episodes. The arc's plot was basically the introduction of Doctor Kiryuu, one of the best and currently most recurrent villains of the whole series! Also they composed some incredible soundtrack for that part of the show, like the theme <em><strong>Time to make History</strong></em>, top tier battle themes by the way! That arc was aired during 2008 though, talk about old but good stuff!" The ginger haired girl spoke excitedly and with a cheerful tone of voice, characteristic of the Phantom Thieves Navigator member. It was nice to see her so relaxed, and it made Akechi quite happy to be able to bring out that side of Futaba.</p><p>Akechi giggled and smiled at the distant memory of her younger self, sitting alone in front of a television, watching Featherman. It was a rather painful yet sweet and warm memory. "Ah, yes. It's been that long since the last time I've seen it... I wonder how much the show has changed since then."</p><p>Futaba's eyes landed on Akechi for a moment before darting to the ground and becoming quiet. Akechi thought she might have been embarrassed and was about to let her be, but unexpectedly Futaba moved her gaze once more to her. "Hey, uhm... Maybe you can try to see it." The young girl raised the bag she carried slightly. "I mean, I can lend you the DVDs, so you watch a few episodes and check it out... What do you say?"</p><p>"E-Eh?!" The sudden offer managed to surprise Akechi, who after a few moments of just looking at Futaba, shook her head. "Uhm, thank you for the offer Futaba-chan, that's very nice of you, but I don't really have a DVD player at my apartment." </p><p>Futaba frowned a little and placed her free index on her chin. "Mmmmm... And what about your computer? Can't you play them in it?" </p><p>Akechi somewhat pouted, frustrated at her misery. "It's not a computer, it's a netbook. And unfortunately it doesn't have a DVD drive."</p><p>"Whaaaaaat?! Seriously, I didn't expect you to be this poor Miss Detective Princess! I feel so disappointed really..." Futaba shook her head and a mocking grin appeared on her lips, causing Akechi to snap a little at her.</p><p>"Hey! I take offense out of that! Do you think I make a fortune out of my detective work or something?! Because if you do trust me, you're highly confused." The detective somewhat glared at Futaba, who just laughed at Akechi's snapping.</p><p>"Sorry sorry~ Just teasing ya." She frowned slightly. "Still though, what a problem. You can't watch it on your own..." Suddenly, Futaba nodded firmly, filled with resolve. "Alright, I know what we must do!" The girl turned to Akechi wearing a playful smirk on her face. "You're gonna watch the show with me!"</p><p>All Akechi did was stare at Futaba, before her eyes widened up in massive confusion. "... I... beg your pardon?" Futaba managed to take Akechi once more; how could she expect something like that?! "Futaba-chan-"</p><p>The young girl giggled, not even allowing Akechi to say if she agreed or not. "I'm sorry, but it's already settled! You're watching Neo Rangers Featherman with me from now!! ...But, there's still one condition!" </p><p>Seemingly trapped and with no way of escaping out of that offer, Akechi had no option but to go along with it. "Huh? And what would that be?"</p><p>"Well, in exchange for watching Featherman with me, you'll have some detective homework for me." Hoo boy, there was the characteristic Futaba devil smile. Although Akechi was witnessing for the first time, she understood that the field she was playing in was controlled by Futaba.</p><p>A smirk, that threatened to turn into a snort, formed on Akechi's lips and one of her eyebrows rose curiously. "Detective work you say? And why would you need me to do that?" </p><p>Futaba turned her head away from Akechi, wearing a strange expression looking to the train's ceiling. "Oh you knoooow, just want to see if your detective skills are the stuff or a big bunch of crap." The smile returned. "But oh well, maybe my request is too much for the detective princess."</p><p><strong>OUCH</strong>, that strike to the pride was hard. Now Akechi had to be honest, she wasn't the fantastic brilliant and amazing detective girl the media sole her as; she had a certain talent for solving puzzles or complicated problems that required logic, and she'd solve a certain number of cases that weren't precisely easy, but her fame as 'The Detective Princess' existed because of the charade with the mental shutdowns. So all in all, what Futaba was actually looking to see from Akechi wasn't true or possible to show, since it was nothing more than a lie crafted to make Akechi famous and earn Shido's trust easily. But but BUT! One thing that was indeed true about her was that Akechi kept a certain pride to her natural detective skills and when someone tried to attack it, she would fight right back. Luckily, Futaba wasn't saying anything that hurt Akechi's pride too much, just enough to make her fall right into her trap and feel tempted to accept the deal.</p><p>Still, there was something that pulled Akechi back from accepting right after Futaba's tease. What if Futaba asked her to look into the organization? How long would Akechi manage to hide her identity as Crow if she had to be Futaba's source of information? It was certainly a thing that worried Akechi, mostly because it would mean that the Phantom Thieves would find out the truth too quickly. However, these thoughts shouldn't make her budge anymore; her mind was set and no matter the Thieves feelings, she would still push on until the very end. And so, after feeling Loki's grumble thanks to the fact that Futaba had tricked Akechi into accepting, said girl let out a large sigh of frustration.</p><p>"Very well then, I'll do what I can." The detective nodded at Futaba, who raised a thumb up at Akechi in excitement.</p><p>"Alright, we have a deal fellow Featherman watching mate!" Futaba giggled a bit before giving a wide smile to Akechi. Akechi made a deal with Futaba, and she seemed to be feeling slightly more comfortable with Akechi around her... And so, everything froze.</p><p>
  <em>"I am thou... Thou art I"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Thou has acquired a new vow, the <strong>Futaba Sakura</strong> confidant. It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"With the birth of the Hermit persona, I have obtained the wings of blessing that shall lead to freedom and power."</em>
</p><p><em>Oh my god it happened again!!! </em>The detective thought to herself while watching the Hermit Arcana tarot card moving in front of her. <em>What could this possibly be?! And why is it happening now of all times?!</em> Akechi wasn't understanding anything of that; Vows? Confidants? What the hell was all that?! But as she thought she was finally going even madder, Akechi felt that the voice which spoke during the card events was distantly familiar. Could she have heard a similar voice before? Akechi did her best to recall where she could have possibly heard a voice like that...</p><p><em><strong>If my voice is reaching you, then there's still a chance for you to follow a better path. The new resolve you have acquired... You must hold onto it with no hesitation, since it will be your way to forge bonds with others who will for sure accompany you through this new journey.</strong></em> Yes that was it! During her train ride three days ago, she heard the exact same voice in a strange dream. Akechi recalled that voice, saying that even if she was sunken in a path of misery, she could use her powers to do the right thing and start atoning for her sins.  <em><strong>Let the vows you form from now on be the wings of rebellion that allow you to course the infinity sky of freedom...</strong></em> That voice had also spoken about making vows that would be Akechi's wings of rebellion... So that moment with the Thieves and now with Futaba, Akechi had experienced the creation of new vows!</p><p>A sudden tug on Akechi's sleeve caused her to pull herself back to reality, as she turned to look at Futaba. "Hey! C'mon, don't daydream now, we are almost at Shibuya!" </p><p>"A-Ah! I'm sorry, I guess I was a bit too lost in my thoughts." A little laughter came out of Akechi's mouth as they both abandoned the train.</p><p>The walk to Leblanc wasn't that bad; both of them were quiet yes, but they didn't feel that huge unease like they felt during the train ride to Akihabara. Akechi had to make sure to keep Futaba close while they went through Shibuya, since the number of people didn't decrease that much in the time-lapse from the afternoon to the evening. There was, however, a certain difference between the ride they did during the afternoon and the one they were doing at that moment; the tension that had once bothered them was slowly fading away, making the silence more comfortable than before. They didn't speak much when they left the train or when they walked through Shibuya, but there was no need to say anything and neither of them was bothered by that.</p><p>After a few struggles, they finally reached Leblanc. Akechi opened the door, letting out a sudden and involuntary sigh as she announced their arrival. "Excuse us."</p><p>Sojiro was sitting at one of the seats of the counter, visibly frowning at a sheet of paper he was holding as he tapped a pencil against the side of his head. Was he making a crossword or something? Whatever it was, he placed it down as soon as he noticed Akechi and Futaba coming into the café. "Oh, welcome back you two."</p><p>"Yo!!" Futaba greeted enthusiastically as she ran up to a booth and took a seat at it. "Me hunger Sojiro! I demand some delicious curry!!" The girl giggled slightly, to which the old man grunted.</p><p>"Okay okay, give me a second at least." Sojiro stood up and placed the sheet of paper on the counter. His eyes darted to Akechi, who was just standing there observing Futaba with a smile. "Do you want some curry as well lady?" </p><p>The sudden offer caused Akechi to snap back to reality, as her gaze wandered to Sojiro followed by a shake of her head. "O-Oh no, thank you so much, but I'm not any hungry at the moment. Besides, I already got out of my diet with your curry and that's enough for me." Akechi took a seat near the counter and placed her briefcase next to her seat.</p><p>"Ah, suit yourself then." The barista walked to the small kitchen portion behind the counter and started preparing his daughters meal, the latter hopping excitedly on her seat with her eyes sparkling at the idea of tasting her adoptive father's curry. </p><p>The detective found herself staring down at her phone, seemingly pleased by the silence that had filled the little store. In the background, she could hear Futaba whining about Sojiro taking too much time to prepare her meal, with the latter telling her that the food took it's time, mockingly saying that she shouldn't rush something so sophisticated as curry. Both the Robin Hood and Loki side of her appeared to be content in the back of her mind, allowing her body and soul to relax a bit and enjoy the family bickering in the background.</p><p>"So tell me Futaba, how was Akihabara? Did you get those DVDs you wanted?" The bickering eventually stopped and the old man approached his daughter, placing a perfect temperature curry plate in front of her.</p><p>"Mhm!! I really wanted to get these, so I'm very happy I got them and for a good price! Double combo!" The girl's face wore a big smile at her father before starting to dig up into her curry. "MMMMMMM SHO GOOOOOD!!" She spoke with her mouth full, placing spoon after spoon of the meal into her mouth. When Akechi turned around to see this scenery, she couldn't help but snort a bit at Futaba's eating.</p><p>"G-Geez Futaba, no need to choke yourself with your food." The old man smirked a bit before nodding at his daughter. "Still, I'm glad to know you got what you wanted." Sojiro then turned his gaze to Akechi, giving her a grateful nod. "By the way, thank you for going along with her. That was a huge help."</p><p>"Oh please, there's no need to thank me for it Sakura-san. I'm just glad I could help." The detective gave the barista a bright smile, causing the latter to wear his classic grin and hold his chin between his right index and thumb, in a similar manner to Ren.</p><p>"Well, I'm sure the kid will be both happy and grateful when he hears you went with Futaba when he couldn't." The man gave Akechi a wink of his left eye, to which Akechi's cheeks started puffing up into a shade of pink, perfectly aware of what the man was implying.</p><p>The sudden sound of Futaba choking into her curry causes both Akechi and Sojiro to turn their heads to the ginger haired girl, who was coughing loudly. "I-I STILL <strong>cough </strong>I STILL DON'T APPROVE ANY OF THAT! Using me <strong>cough cough </strong>as a means to <strong>cough </strong>hook up with my brother was <strong>cough</strong> a very low thing for you to do!!" The poor girl kept coughing and patting her chest with her fist in an attempt to stop.</p><p>The shade of pink on Akechi's cheeks started to grow into a more redlike colour and her eyes widened up. "I-I told you this is nothing of the sort! Stop making such baseless assumptions, Ren and I are just friends, and I'm not trying to 'hook up' with him!" The detective sort of glared at the girl, who had been granted a glass of water by her adoptive father, managing to swallow the food in her mouth and cease her coughing.</p><p>"I feel so used..." The girl said as soon as her coughing ceased, causing the detective to grunt loudly as she rubbed her temples. Suddenly, Futaba abandoned the booth and went to Akechi, giving her the classic Futaba devilish smirk before approaching closer to almost whisper into Akechi's ear. "Although, if you fulfill your side of the deal, then I guess I might reconsider my opinion and end up supporting it! That is if you're really intending to steal my brother's heart!"</p><p>"I already told you that is not it doesn't anybody listen to me here?!" Akechi hated how her paleness didn't favor her, causing her whole face to be so red that she could easily be mistaken for an apple. The ginger haired girl only giggled, visibly amused by Akechi's blushing as she pulled herself back and turned around to look at Sojiro, who by the way was grinning, just as amused as Futaba.</p><p>"Anyways, now that I had fully recharged my tank I'm gonna take these DVDs and check out the bonus content!! Time for Futaba to abandon the scenario!" Futaba throws a fist up and turns around, running to the door. "Byeeeeeeeeee!!" And with that, Futaba Sakura leaves the café.</p><p>Akechi sighed deeply as the blush on her face started to fade away. The barista let out a chuckle before going to the table to pick up the empty plate Futaba had left. "Again, thanks for helping out with her. I hope she didn't cause any trouble." </p><p>The detective shook her head and smiled at Sojiro. "No, not at all! Futaba behaved wonderfully all the way there and back from the store." Akechi's smile started to fade as a conflicted look appeared in her eyes. "Although... Well, she had an issue when we were at the store. Nothing that can be considered 'extremely grave', but she just froze up when the clerk spoke to her and that caught me by surprise."</p><p>"Ah... I see, so that's what happened." The old man placed his chin between his right index and thumb. "Was there any other thing?"</p><p>"No, besides that nothing. However, I stepped with her to try and encourage her to get what she wanted, and she managed to get the DVDs on her own merit, so I would say it went okay!" The detective nodded firmly, trying to bring some positivism to the situation, but a sigh that escaped her lips gave away her concern. "Still, I wasn't aware of the fact she had social anxiety, which makes me even more glad that I was there for her."</p><p>"Oh? So you weren't aware of her social issue?" Sojiro's eyebrow shot up a little and a grin appeared on his lips. "And yet, you still were willing to help her out? Well that's pretty nice of you lady, I'm quite grateful for what you did." </p><p>"A-Ah I'm very glad you think so Sakura-san!" Akechi nodded a bit nervously, but still a certain sensation of happiness bubbled inside her heart. "When I first saw her I thought she was just a little shy, but I never expected her to have this grave of an issue." </p><p>"Yeah... Futaba was always somewhat shy, though." The old man took a seat behind the counter and sighed heavily. "When she was little, Futaba would read dozens of hard books and talk about topics that other kids weren't even interested at. As a consequence of that, she would get constantly bullied by other children and have a hard time talking with other people due to the fear of being judged. Although, Wakaba's presence in her life made things slightly easier for her... Until she passed away." Sojiro grumbles sadly before continuing. "When Wakaba died, Futaba shut herself in her room, completely depressed and unable to even step foot out of the house. She wouldn't even talk to me. But now I see her going outside with Ren and the others and I can't help but feel happy; after all the pain she's been through, I think she deserves to be happy, y'know?"</p><p>"I-I see..." Yet again, that sensation returned to Akechi's heart. She was reminded that she herself was the source of Futaba's pain and isolation. "I'm very sorry to hear this Sakura-san... You have a lovely daughter a-and I sincerely hope she can overcome her situation." Akechi desperately grasped whatever composure she might have left and doesn't let go of it, because if she did she would probably start crying her eyes out. </p><p>"Heh... Thanks detective. That's very nice of ya to say." Sojiro gave Akechi a little smile. "Although, I'm perfectly aware we are talking about Wakaba's daughter here, she can overcome anything if she has the will to."</p><p>Akechi herself lets out a slightly sad chuckle with her gaze looking down at the counter, not replying to Sojiro's phrase. Still, Sojiro could tell that Akechi had faith in Futaba as well, she just didn't speak it out loud. Mostly for the shame and sadness of being the one who brought so much pain to the poor girl. However, the silence wasn't uncomfortable at all...</p><p>Suddenly, both Akechi and Sojiro heard the door chime making them turn their gazes to see who'd entered to the establishment. </p><p>"Heeeeyyy Sojiro, I'm back. Hope you have some curry ready because I'm sta--" Ah, Ren Amamiya the raven was back home. The boy was closing the door behind him and turning around to speak with his guardian, but was certainly not expecting to see Goro Akechi still in there. "Oh, Goro-chan?"</p><p>Akechi jumped a bit on her chair when she noticed the person that entered was Ren, but a big smile appeared on her face and for some reason... her cheeks started to feel hot? "Hey Ren! How are you?"</p><p>Ren gave Akechi a big smile, one with a lot more of energy than when he appeared at Leblanc during the afternoon. "Hey Goro-chan. I'm pretty good, thanks for asking. What about you?" The raven walked up to Akechi and took a seat next to her, placing his bag on a seat next to him. "You must be having a lot of fun if you stayed here all day." A smirk replaces his smile, trying to tease the detective a little.</p><p>Unfortunately for Ren, Akechi was quite a literal person, and she had the need to give him a quick explanation. "Oh no nothing like that, Ren. When you felt Futaba-chan asked for some company to get some DVDs at Akihabara and I just came back."</p><p>The raven giggled a bit. "C'mon Goro-chan, no need to be so explanatory I was just teasing-- Wait you went with Futaba?" The IMMENSE change on Ren's mood is quite surprising for Akechi. He went from teasing debonair to concerned brother mode in an instant. "Was she okay? Did you have any issues along the way?" </p><p><em>Jesus Fucking Crist he is adorable. </em>Akechi let out a soft laughter and shook her head at him. "No no, it was alright! In fact, she behaved wonderfully all the way there and even managed to buy the DVDs by herself." She saved up the part when she got a bit nervous, since she overcame it quite easily.</p><p>"Oh I'm so glad." The raven let out a relieved sigh and passed a hand through his forehead. "Seriously I can't thank you enough for taking Futaba there. I would've gone with her without doubting, but I already had important plans and couldn't postpone them." </p><p>"There's no need for you to thank me Ren, I was just trying to help, and I'm happy I could make things easier for both you and her." Akechi's statement caused the raven boy to smile at her. Suddenly, Sojiro cleared his throat and stood up from behind the counter, catching the gazes of both teenagers. </p><p>"Alright kid, I gotta go for today, so I'll leave the store to you so that you talk around a little." The man gave Akechi a wink of his eye, the latter blushing intensely understanding what the man was implying. Is he still going to go on and on about that liking crap?!</p><p>"Sure Boss, say hi to Futaba for me." Sojiro nodded at Ren before he left through the entrance of the restaurant. And so, Akechi and Ren were the only people in there...</p><p><em>We are here. All alone. Just him and I. </em>Akechi's eyes widened up, and she shook her head intensely, trying to push away all those thoughts. Sojiro's ideas were already starting to create a chaos inside her head and she had to put a halt to it. "I-I should get going too." The detective was about to get up, but she glanced at Ren who frowned slightly.</p><p>"What? Really? C'mon Goro-chan, I'm sure you can stay for at least a bit more." Ren stood up and winked at Akechi. "Besides, it's the perfect occasion for you to try my coffee blends AND I could also give you a cup as my thanks for taking Futaba around." </p><p>"U-Uhm are you sure about that Ren...?" Akechi's cheeks puffed up in a shade of crimson as she played with the fabric of her skirt a little. "I-I mean aren't you tired after being out the whole day? I wouldn't want for you to take all the work just to repay me..."</p><p>"Nonesense Goro-chan, I would love to make you some coffee, and I'm not that tired! Seriously, don't stress yourself over it." Ren gave Akechi a big smile and headed to the kitchen ready to prepare Akechi's coffee.</p><p>"Alright, if you say so then I won't oppose to it..." The detective allowed a smile to draw on her lips and took a seat at the counter once more while staring at Ren, graciously moving around the kitchen, preparing the grains of coffee for the blend and so on. It's certainly a beautiful view... One that she could really get used t--- <em>WHAT NO!! </em>She shook yet again her head, pushing away those thoughts once more. She should really avoid thinking of the Sakura's nonsense.</p><p>"Though" The sudden sound of Ren's voice made Akechi jump slightly on her seat. "I'm not in the mental state required for a chess game. Sorry." Ren gave Akechi a smile that gave off some tiredness and Akechi shook her head at him.</p><p>"No please Ren, do not apologize for something so trivial. We can always play another time, don't worry about it!" For some reason, Akechi found that the air of that calm atmosphere was easier to breathe than her usual packed daily life air.</p><p>"Thanks, I would love to play with you another time." The raven placed a cup in front of Akechi and rested his elbows on the counter. "Alright, here it is. It may not be the same kind as boss, but I'm sure it's at least drinkable." </p><p>"Thank you!" The detective picked up the cup gently and places the borders on her lips, taking a sip of the liquid inside of it. It was certainly made with Sojiro's techniques, she could practically feel the similarities between Ren's and Sojiro's coffee. However... it felt forced. It was actually quite hard for Akechi to describe it propertly.</p><p>"So, how is it?" Ren stared expectantly at Akechi, who sighed softly and holds the cup in her hands.</p><p>"It's good." That's all Akechi sayed, and Ren didn't fail to notice Akechi's conflicted face as if she was trying to speak up something but couldn't do so.</p><p>"I can sense a but coming up right now." The raven joked while wearing a playful smile, causing Akechi to giggle slightly.</p><p>"Well, it is certainly good! I can feel the dedication and practice you're giving to your cups but..." Akechi frowned a bit, choosing her words carefully. "There's something that's missing from this cup. It's hard for me to explain."</p><p>"Ah yeah, Sojiro told me this might happen when I served someone." The raven sighed, obviously somewhat frustrated by the result. "He told me that the way I blend it makes it come with a bland flavour. God I need to improve tha-"</p><p>"No, that's actually not it, Ren." The detective spoke up causing Ren to look at her with a confused look. "How can I say this... It feels like you are imitating Sakura-san too much. I mean, you would obviously follow his techniques to blend a good cup of coffee, but it feels like you're just imitating him to the fullest. This may sound weird but... Maybe you could try placing more of yourself in it? I know almost nothing about coffee, but when this cup gives me the feel I'm drinking a copy of Sakura-san's coffee."</p><p>The detective lifted her gaze to find Ren raising an eyebrow at her, and the fear of causing him to feel bad made Akechi's eyes widen up. "Uhm I didn't mean to say it in a harmful way! I-I'm so sorry I-"</p><p>"No no!" The raven's eyes suddenly light up, as if Akechi's words had woken something up inside of him. "That's... Actually some great advice. What you're saying might be true and if it ends up being like that, then I will need to change some things in my blending ways." Ren shakes his head but wears a big smile. "Thanks Goro-chan, I will take your advice into count!"</p><p>"A-Ah I'm glad I was able to contribute..." The detective's cheeks started heating up and getting tainted in a red colour. "However, it's still really good and I'm sure it'll help me out through my night work." Akechi takes another sip of the coffee.</p><p>"I'm glad it's to your liking Goro-chan." After a few minutes, Akechi was done with her coffee allowing Ren to pick the cup and place it in the sink. Once that's done, he noticed Akechi standing up from her seat and grabbing her briefcase. "Sorry for keeping you around more than you intended to, you should get going or you might loose the last trains."</p><p>"Yes I will do that. Then again, I must thank you for taking the time to make me a coffee. I hope next time we can play that chess match we promised." The raven smiled and nodded her. Akechi walked down to the door, but something caused her stop before opening it. Akechi thought of how amazingly Ren has been behaving with her and how nice it was to see him around the café that day. Most people walked away whenever they knew about her past and how she was a bastard child, but Ren didn't... He was her friend after all. Her cheeks heated up once more and got fully red as she turned around to look at Ren who just came from behind the counter heading to the stairs. "H-Hey Ren..."</p><p>"Hm?" The raven turned around and gave her a quizzically look on his face. "Is something wrong Goro-chan?"</p><p>"U-Uhm..." Akechi cleared her throat loudly in her attempt to calm herself down as she continued speaking. "Could you come here for a second...?" What was she even doing? Every fiber of her body told her to just leave, but she couldn't. She had to do something first, and so she stood there expectantly for the raven to approach.</p><p>"Uh sure?" The raven snorted slightly before he walked up to Akechi and stood in front of her. Ren wondered if Akechi was always so tall; she was just a bit bellow his neck in height. "So? What is it?"</p><p>"Clo... y... e..." The detective stared down at the floor, mumbling some words that Ren couldn't understand. </p><p>"Uhhhhh what? I can't underst-"</p><p>"I said close your eyes!" The detective almost yelled her words while her gaze lifted to look up at the raven trying to hide her immense blushing. "Do it!"</p><p>"Okay okay no need to yell at me." The raven chuckled and closed his eyes, expectant for what Akechi wanted to do.</p><p>Akechi was practically about to explode. It was stupid, nonsensical and so many more things... But she felt like she needed to repay Ren in some way, and that was the best thing she could come up with. She stood up a bit on her tippy toes and pressed her lips gently onto Ren's right cheek, giving him a soft shy peck. Her face was directly burning in a vivid fire at that point. It was certainly not the same natural kiss she gave him during the time they spend at the hotel, but considering she'd never done something so intimate, then this peck wasn't so bad. The sudden act caught Ren by surprise who, when he felt Akechi's lips on his cheek, opened his eyes widely as his face began to blush intensely. </p><p>The detective pulled back all of a sudden. "T-There! I mean... Last time you complained about how I didn't give you a goodnight kiss, s-so I gave you another. I-I hope that's enough for you." The detective wore a pout on her face, clearly embarrassed for her own course of action.</p><p>The raven just rubbed one of his palms against the cheek Akechi had just kissed and giggled, with the blush still on his face. "Wow, this move was certainly bold of you detective. Not even the movies first?"</p><p>"It's not like that, and you know it!" The detective huffed loudly and crossed her arms against her chest, averting her gaze to a side. "I just wanted to thank you... For how nice you're being with me. That's all." Akechi sighed a little before placing her eyes back on the raven. "And now that I've done so, I hope you won't complain any longer about me not giving you 'goodnight kisses'."</p><p>"You realize I only complained ONE TIME about that, right Goro-chan?" Ren wasn't able to hold it any longer and started to laugh loudly, causing Akechi to growl as her face began to look more like an apple.</p><p>"SHUT UP!! URGH DAMMIT YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE!" The detective turned around swiftly and was ready to head to the door, but a hand grasped one of her own and stopped her from leaving. Before she could even turn to the raven and see what made him stop her, she felt a sudden warmth on her right cheek. <em>Oh no he didn't- </em>But yes, he did. Akechi turned around as soon as Ren pulled away from the peck he had just given Akechi. "H-HEY WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THAT?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"</p><p>"Oh it was just a peck Goro-chan, no need to be so loud about it." The raven winked at her. "Though I gotta say, I could easily get used to you kissing me on the cheek every night as a goodbye." </p><p>"Well I would advise you to forget the idea!" The detective huffed loudly and pouted before she shook her head and finally headed towards the door. "Jeez, you become more of an idiot with each day that passes by." But just before she opened the door to leave, she freezed while holding the door knob in her hand. "...Though... If you promise to keep it a secret, we can... keep it up..." She mumbled her words, practically begging for Ren to respond quickly, so she could burst into the street.</p><p>The raven snorted and nodded at Akechi who didn't turn around at all. "Sure, I will keep it for myself Goro-chan." </p><p>"G-Good! Now goodnight!" And with those last words, Akechi abandoned the establishment rapidly not looking back at the boy who was giggling as she left.</p><p>Once he was left alone, Ren went to the seat where he'd left his bag and picked up as he walked into the attic. Morgana, who just couldn't believe what had just happened, poked his head out of Ren's bag. "REN FUCKING AMAMIYA I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION ON WHAT HAPPENED WITH AKECHI." </p><p>"Geez don't be so loud Morgana, you're stating to sound like Goro." Ren sighed tiredly and placed the bag on the desk next to the stairs, allowing Morgana to come out of the bag.</p><p>"Look I know we Phantom Thieves are particularly charismatic, mostly you since you're the leader BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD GO AND FLIRT WITH THE DETECTIVE IN CHARGE OF OUR INVESTIGATION!!" Morgana moved around on the desk before jumping onto the floor and walking up to Ren, who took a sit at his bed.</p><p>"Can you please not yell at me? Seriously Mona." The raven boy dropped to lay down onto his bed while holding the back of one of his hand against his forehead. "You don't understand what happened, and I get why you're confused but there's no need to be a pain about it."</p><p>Morgana stayed quiet for a few seconds before he sighed loudly in exasperation and jumped onto the bed to take a seat next to Ren. "Alright, enlighten me dear leader. What happened downstairs with Akechi and for what reason?"</p><p>"Okay, I guess I should try to explain you with some detail." Ren stares up at the ceiling, not turning his gaze to Morgana. "Remember when I told you I ran into Goro when I left for my course? Well, we didn't just... ran into each other. We ended up sharing a hotel room." </p><p>"EXCUSE ME?!!!!!" Morgana meows loudly like he hadn't done in months, causing Ren to grunt loudly and glare at him.</p><p>"Let me finish Mona!!" The non-cat creature startled a bit before going silent once more, allowing Ren to continue. "So, we shared the room together and well some stuff happened and one night she just gave me a kiss on the cheek before I went to sleep. That's pretty much it, not like she grabbed a knife and stabbed me Mona."</p><p>Morgana was even more oblivious than before and his eyes were completely wide. Ren and Akechi shared a room together?! And she kissed Ren?! What scenario had to happen in order for that to occur?! That was just insane!! However, Ren asked for him to be a bit more patient, so he just sighed. "Ren, I know you're always kind of reckless but seriously be careful with what you do. Of all the women in your life, Akechi was the last one I would ever expect you to place your eyes on since, you know, she's the one in charge of our investigation!"</p><p>"Mona..." The raven kept staring at the ceiling. "It's not like that, really. I know she's into us and that I have to be careful, but that's the thing; I really want her to change her mind about what we do." Ren went silent for a few instants before his teeth clentched tightly. "Morgana, when she told me where she was from and about her childhood... Trust me, it made me furious. Goro had no one in her life and the children would just bully and mistreat her like she was some kind of trash. And maybe you could say 'what about her family?'" Ren snorts mockingly. "Yeah sure, after her mother died the foster institutions treated her like absolute crap and the foster families would even lock her up inside dark rooms and basements, keeping her from being fed or at least having some water. And why the fuck did they adopted her if they would treat her so awfully? Money. They just wanted to get their hands on the foster care's money while they treated the poor child like some freak of nature..." Ren can feel his hands make the tightest fist he had ever done in his life.</p><p>"By God..." Morgana's ears fell onto the back of his head and his tail rested on the bed's mattress. "Did they seriously do all that...? But that's just-" </p><p>"Inhuman, disgusting, preposterous, coward." Ren could feel the fury in the words he spat out. "That kind of people are the ones that deserve a change of heart. So now, I'm trying to make Akechi see what we do is to help other people so that they never go through the same stuff she did. I want to show her the Phantom Thieves don't want anything else besides to bring justice and hope into this rotten and disgustingly corrupted world we live in." Ren moved his gaze to Morgana. "Do you get me now?"</p><p>"Yeah... You are right that she should see what we do is not for ourselves but to those in need." Morgana nodded and his ears perked up. "Still, I would advise you to be careful. I don't want a few kisses to be the reason you start to melt and soften up whenever she's around."</p><p>Ren giggled a bit before sitting up on the mattress. "Can't say I won't though, her kisses are quite adorable." Suddenly, he placed his hands together down between his legs and made a fake girly face. "D-Don't get jealous though I only have eyes for you Morgana-senpai..." </p><p>"Amamiya, why are you looking at me like that?" Morgana jumped down onto the ground and took a step back, followed by Ren who stood up and kept his timid highschool girl game.</p><p>"H-Here let me kiss you, so I show you how big my love for you really is Morgana-senpai!!" A devilish smile appeared on Ren as he jumped to grab Morgana, who just started to run around the attic in desperation.</p><p>"NO, SOMEONE HELP MEEEEEE!!! I ONLY RECEIVE KISSES FROM PRETTY WOMEN!!!"</p><p>"MORGANA-SENPAAAAAAAAAAAAI!!!!!! LET ME SHOW YOU MY LOVE AND AFFECTION FOR YOU WITH THE BIGGEST KISS!!"</p><p>"LADY ANN SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"<br/>
                                       <br/>
                                       --------<br/>
Akechi wasn't just stunned for what happened at Leblanc, she was having a massive rush of feelings while she walked back home. Ren Amamiya had kissed her on her cheek!! <em>I do not mean to offend you, young one... But you sound stupid right now. </em>The Loki side of her heart chuckled mockingly. It was a pain to admit it, but Loki was right. She couldn't help it though!! When was the last time she ever received a kiss on her cheek from anyone else besides her deceased mother?! Her mother used to give her goodnight kisses, just like she did with Ren... But aside of that NO ONE ELSE had that gesture with her, so it was just uncommon!! </p><p><em>God why am I making such a deal out of this...</em> Akechi sighed in exhaustion, finally placing her thoughts in order. It was just a nice gesture, like her mom used to do with her when she was little... Nothing of the couple sort, they were just good friends after all. With her mind relaxed, she kept walking back home with the sounds of the night city making her company.</p><p>After a few minutes of walking, she noticed a familiar face that was around... It was no other than Ryuji Sakamoto, Ren's athlete friend. For what Akechi could see he was carrying a bag, probably going back with some groceries. The boy had stopped to help out an old lady who was trying to cross the street. How sweet of him to do that... The woman was really old and anyone could easily notice how her motor skills weren't precisely at the top. Once Ryuji helped out the old woman get to the other side of the street, he kept throwing glances to see if she was okay. He was so focused on the woman's safety that he didn't notice he was walking into a parked car!!</p><p>"WATCH OUT SAKAMOTO-KUN!!!" Akechi yelled out of instinct, making Ryuji look at her in surprise, but he still hit the car and fell backwards landing on his butt. "Oh my god!!" Akechi looked to both sides of the street and crossed quickly to go and help Ryuji. "Are you alright?!" The detective ducked next to Ryuji. "Here let me help you with your things-"</p><p>"Nah don't worry, I'm a'right." Ryuji shakes his head and managed to sit up properly to hold his bag and not allow its contents. Once he was fully seated, he stood up, making Akechi stand up as well. "Thanks... Akechi." Ah yes, she was kind of expecting that response. It wasn't that weird to assume Ryuji Sakamoto, Skull, wouldn't be to be the fondest of the boy band member's to her. Still though, quite the coldness he was giving her.</p><p>But she didn't feel that bad about it and decided to ask about his well-being. "Are you sure you're okay Sakamoto-kun? That was quite the fall you suffered." The concern in Akechi is quite genuine, but Ryuji's still quite wary of her and just shrugged at her.</p><p>"It wasn't that big of a deal, just happy the alarm of the car didn't go off." Then he took a look inside the bag he was carrying and a sigh of relief escaped his lips. "Still, if anything happened to the tomatoes now that woulda've been a problem. Don't wanna die today..."</p><p>"Oh? Tomatoes?" Akechi tilted her head slightly to a side, visibly curious at Ryuji's words. The sudden realization of Akechi still being with him caused Ryuji's eyes to widen up as he glared at her.</p><p>"What?! I'm just doing an errand for my mom she needed me to! You got a problem with that?!" Hoo boy, Ryuji was quite on the defensive. Akechi shook her both hands defensively.</p><p>"No no nothing of the sort Sakamoto-kun!" The detective gave Ryuji a smile. "If anything I believe that is super sweet of you to do! It must be really nice to be able to help your mother." </p><p>Ryuji's face started to soften up and even blush slightly thanks to Akechi's compliment. "Uh nice? Well yeah, I mean I'm glad that I can help her out when she needs me to. Y'know she's been raising me all on her own since my dad left us, and I'm trying my best to not be a burden to her."</p><p>"Oh Sakamoto-kun I'm sure you're not a burden to your mother! Still though, I'm sure it makes her really happy to have you help her out the way you do." The memories of Akechi's mother began to invade her brain naturally, causing the detective to wear quite the happy smile.</p><p>Ryuji stared at Akechi with a deadpan look on his face before he spoke up. "Okay you are acting super weird, what's up with you?" A smirk started to appear on his lips. "Are you just being nice 'cause your popularity fell faster than a card castle?" </p><p>"Hey you know for someone who did something so sweet as helping that old lady you're being a complete jerk!" The detective wasn't going to hold in the anger; if he wanted to bother her, he achieved it. "I was just complimenting you and saying how nice it is of you to help your mother! My mother had to raise me all by herself too and unlike you I wasn't able to help her that much!" Akechi realized the outburst she just had and shook her head. "Sorry... Didn't mean to yell."</p><p>"...Uh no... 'm sorry for what I said. Didn't know you were like me." Ryuji went silent for a few moments before he shook his head a little. "Although isn't it a lot easier for you? I mean I used to run before, and now I can't do it... But you're super smart and appear on TV all the time, so I bet with everyone praising you it wouldn't be that hard to handle."</p><p>Akechi stayed silent... She didn't say a word for quite a while but instead started to laugh loudly, causing the blonde boy to grow annoyed.</p><p>"Hey, what the fuck are you laughing at?!"</p><p>"N-No please don't get me wrong Sakamoto-kun, I'm not laughing at you." The detective's lips began to form a sad smile. "It's just... Well, to be honest my opinion of you has changed considerably since the last time we saw each other. Before I thought you were just a hotheaded and immature troublemaker who just brought problems onto himself."</p><p>"What did you say?!-"</p><p>"But now..." Akechi pushed some of her bangs away and looked at Ryuji with her sad smile. "I believe that you're a guy who has really sweet gestures and cares for others, like when you helped that old lady cross the street. And it honestly impresses me how responsible and considerate you are by helping your mother with the errands." </p><p>Ryuji's cheeks flushed up in red as he pressed his bag tighter against his chest, quite taken aback "H-Hey the hell you sayin' all that stuff for?! Don't make such a big deal out of it. It's only normal to want to help other people. And it feels really good when you're able to help them out, y'know?"</p><p>Ah, to think such wise words would come out of Ryuji Sakamoto, the most heated one of the Phantom Thieves. If she hadn't changed so much as she did, maybe she would have laughed mockingly at Ryuji, thinking he spat out pure nonsense and respond him in a sarcastic cynical. But now? After helping Futaba, the child she had given so much pain to, get something she wanted and as a consequence see her smile so brightly? God, Ryuji was so right, helping others was such a satisfactory thing to do! But not just that... The idea of being able to help the Thieves in their crusade was something that caused a feeling of joy to bubble inside her heart.</p><p>She closed her eyes slightly and a big smile started to draw on her lips. And just like that, her eyes opened up, and she looked up at Ryuji, still wearing her joyous smile. "Sakamoto-kun, you're really an incredible guy. To be honest, I would have loved for the other children at the <em><strong>orphanage</strong></em> to be more like you." A giggle escaped her mouth.</p><p>"Uh... Thanks?" Ryuji stared at Akechi a bit confused, but suddenly the words began to sink in. "Wait... Orphanage?! But didn't you say you had your mother...?! Oh my god don't tell me-"</p><p>"Ah please, don't mind too much about it! You may have already figured it out, but it's quite the sad long story and I wouldn't want to ruin your evening with it." Akechi gave one last big happy smile before she started to walk away, turning her body a little to wave at Ryuji. "Sorry for keeping you, Sakamoto-kun! You should go home or else your mother will start nagging at you and be happy you're able to help her! Bye bye, have a great evening!" And so, Ryuji is left alone in his spot, staring at the horizon to where Akechi had run off to.</p><p>During the rest of Akechi's walk home, she thought about her talk with Ryuji and how he was completely right. Helping other people indeed felt incredible! For the longest of times, Akechi had acted in many different ways to make others rely on her and trust her. However, throughout the course of her life, not even a single person would willingly help Akechi with her problems or even ask her how she was feeling, so with time Akechi had lost any kind of interest in having others rely on her. If they never cared for her to begin with, why should she care about others? This resolve got even worse  when she allied herself with Shido, since the only thing inside her head was revenge revenge and more revenge. She cared for nothing else besides get her hands dirty with Shido's last drop of blood and that had been her only motivation until now. But things had changed! The need to get back at Shido wasn't gone at all, but this time her priorites had changed drastically and thanks to that, the world itself was looking differently to Akechi's eyes. She found an immense joy in the idea of helping others and this sensation made her come to the conclusion that was the reason for the Phantom Thieves to do what they did. In their eyes, risking their lives was completely worth it as long as they could bring hope into other people's hearts and make them see that the world wasn't just a pit of corruption and chaos. </p><p><em>Ah m'lady, it has been quite a while since I've seen you like this joyous. I'm glad I can witness this however.</em> The Robin Hood side of her heart sent soft waves of warmth, causing her to giggle a bit.</p><p>"Well Robin, that's because for once I feel that every single one of my efforts will be worth the while. So if I believe that, why not give it my all?" For the first time, she spoke up to her Persona out loud outside the Metaverse, luckily with no one around to listen. Things were changing and fortunately, it was for the better and not for the worse.</p>
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